


I'll keep you safe

by hellwrites



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Minor Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, they live in an utopic world that has no violence or crime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 61,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23248669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellwrites/pseuds/hellwrites
Summary: Every human is born with an extra lobe in their brain. This lobe's only function is to establish a psychic connection between said human and their perfect match, their soulmate, and this connection takes 22 years to be completed.On the last minute of the last day of the year, the ones who are ready exchange bodies with their soulmates for 24 hours and try to find each other. This event is called The Mating and leads to a worldwide day of festivities where people celebrate love.Kara is 25 now and hasn't taken part in The Mating just yet, which is completely normal due to age gaps, but she has been waiting for this moment her whole life and she feels that this year is going to happen, she can't explain, she just knows.On January 1st, she wakes up in a bedroom with barred windows, a locked door, a broken mirror, and a father who's not willing to let his daughter go.Meanwhile, Lena sees herself in a strange house, surrounded by strange people who speak a strange language.And she has no idea of what The Mating is.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 196
Kudos: 767





	1. Kara

Kara wiped her forehead clean with the back of her arm as she held the tray with the latest batch of cupcakes, not finding any more free space on the counter to put it over. She peaked at the kitchen table, that had also every inch of its space occupied and that's when she realized she had, once again, gone too far.

It wasn't the first time though, it had happened the morning before her driving test, also on her last day home before she started college. Every single time she was about to go through an important event in her life, she became a baking machine. She liked to say it was for comfort, few things in the world were more soothing to her than mixing cake ingredients together inside a glass bowl, but she also asked herself about at which point it was no longer comfort but something a little closer to compulsive.

She wasn't even close to her mother's range of talent on that matter, Eliza had years of daily practice and, of course, she ran a cake shop, but Kara had turned out to be way better at in than her sister, who wasn't even allowed to be in the kitchen doing anything but the dishes, otherwise everyone inside the house would be in danger, not only because somehow something was always lit on fire but also Alex's measure of ingredients could never be trusted. 

Unlike Alex, Kara had actually shown a lot of interest on her mother's work as she grew up, many times spending hours sitting on one of the kitchen stools with her head resting on her hands and watching as Eliza turned eggs, flour, and butter into works of art covered with sweet frosting, there was also the benefit of scraping the bowl after everything was done. She only started putting her hands to work when she was about ten and baked her first batch of cookies, Eliza's eyes tearing up while she snapped a picture of Kara holding the tray that had just got off the oven. That picture had been put in the fridge's door and it was still there, even fifteen years later.

"Kara? Is it you down there?" Her mother's voice called from the stairs and Kara pressed her lips, looking around the mess she had done to the kitchen while she tried to cope with her anxiety. Even though, in the end, Kara found her calling in reporting, she always turned towards baking whenever she needed a good distraction. And, on the last three years, new years eve was always the one day of the year where she needed all the distraction she could get. When Eliza finally reached her, still wearing her pajamas and without her glasses on, she widened her eyes, "Hi, dear. You started earlier this year."

"Well..." Kara embarrassingly admitted, opening up some space between two trays to put down the one she was holding, still it was too close to the edge of the counter and could fall if someone bumped on it. She had always been a morning person, always waking up before her alarm went off and starting her day earlier than everyone else in the house. But, on that particular day, she wasn't even sure she was able to get four hours of sleep at night. Mostly, she was just laying in bed with a million thoughts in her mind keeping her wide awake. She never forgot the feeling of disappointment of the last three years and, even though she knew it would happen sooner or later, the fear of somehow her mating never happening made her stomach swirl. But, this time, something, that she couldn't quite place, was different. The fear was minor than the anticipation. It was almost like she knew that it was going to happen this time.

"Tastes wonderful. Really creamy." Eliza gave her a small smile after she took a bite of one of the chocolate ones, but Kara could see the pity behind Eliza's eyes even though she was pretty sure her mother was trying to hide it. She didn't even have to ask, she knew Eliza was afraid that Kara's expectations would be blown again. The first time it happened, she spent the whole Mating Day bummed in bed, although Kara knew, probably better than most people out there since she did a lot of research on the matter, that the rate of people who actually got mated on the first year, at twenty-two years old, was low if compared to the twenty-three to twenty-six years old range, she was still extremely upset her turn didn't come, and things didn't get any better for her that day when she watched through the window as her annoying neighbor Mike, or whoever was inside his body, running on the streets towards some girl while people clapped, celebrating two more mates finding each other while Kara would have to live one more year without knowing hers.

And another after that. And then another.

"Thanks!" Kara smiled back, "I followed your advice about the baking soda."

"That explains it then." Eliza took another bite, her eyes staring at Kara as she studied her daughter, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I really am." Kara nodded, her lips curved in a tiny smile, "I don't know why, but I'm feeling like this is it, you know? This is the year I'm finding my soulmate."

"Well, I really hope you're right." Eliza squeezed her shoulder in a caring manner, not wanting to get Kara's hopes up, neither down.

"What the fuck happened here?" Alex entered the kitchen as she held her one-year-old daughter in her arms, one eyebrow arched while her eyes studied her chaotic surroundings, "Is every single twenty-two and older in this city coming over for breakfast today?"

"Hey! Language! It's not even eight in the morning yet." Eliza poked her daughter's arm and Alex rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face. She put the baby down on her high chair and walked to the fridge to get her some food. The baby already knew what was coming, so she excitedly slammed the white tray in front of her, "And you know how your sister gets..."

"I know! I'm just teasing." Alex sighed, half smiling at Kara who knew her sister was just messing with her, but Eliza had her way of being always on Alex toes. Kara was actually surprised when Alex moved back home after the baby came, she knew her sister would need help since her job demanded great part of her day on most weekdays, her wife's job was no different, but she doubted Alex would ever admit she needed help with anything, especially to their mother.

In the end, the sleepless nights were stronger than her pride.

"Boo!" The baby called Kara's attention, who turned towards her and smiled brightly right away. Kara wasn't sure, but she was seriously thinking that her niece believed that was her actual name, since Kara would always playfully scare her, going from behind her back and yelling "boo!". It never failed to make Cassie laugh.

"So I take it you won't be wanting any?" Kara smirked at her sister, who slightly bolted while silently stealing one of the many cupcakes around her. She took a bite and apologetically shook her head in denial.

"What? No one said that." Alex told her with her mouth full.

"Are you both working today?" Eliza asked as she opened the cabinets, probably looking for the coffee pot.

"Yes." They answered simultaneously, but only Kara cared to elaborate, "We're having the usual last meeting of the year thing, then I'll go to the bar with my friends."

"Ma!" Cassie lifted her tiny hands when she saw Kelly walking down the stairs.

"Good morning, everyone." Kelly greeted them, slowly stopping herself from walking when she noticed what was going on in the kitchen. It wasn't the first time she had witnessed Kara go fully baking machine mode, so she tried to act casually. She was really understanding of Kara's method of coping with stress, probably because she was a psychologist, and she supported it since it was harmless, "Oh. Cupcakes."

"If Alex doesn't eat them all" Kara started, taking off the baking gloves and hanging them on the support on the wall while Alex was close to finishing her third cupcake. She mocked Kara for her stress baking, but it was usually a win-win, Kara got to relieve her stress and Alex got to stuff herself with baked goods, "Take some to the Center with you. I'm sure they'll be happy to have them."

"Yeah! They will. Thank you, Kara" Kelly nodded, but Eliza and Alex shared a quick look. Even after so many years, whenever the Center was mentioned and Kara was around, the discomfort was evident. Not so much with Kelly, who knew the story, but a lot with Kara's sister and mother, who lived the story by Kara's side.

Kara had been to National's City Center several times while her birth mother was still alive. It wasn't an easy experience, especially for a five-year-old, but most of Kara's memories about those days got lost in time, all she still had were flashes, static images of her mother's sad smile towards her whenever she came to visit and the brief sensation of Alex's hand always holding hers before she went through the white double doors that separated the Splits from the rest of the world.

Her mother didn't last two years without her soulmate. And she was considered lucky by many, since she got the least severe outcome, also the most frequent, of becoming a Split. The code yellows had a life span between one and three years, their body working harder and faster to die than the doctors ever could to save them. The code greens became nonfunctional, unaware of their own existence in the world, the lobe in their brain responsible for establishing the connection between them and their soulmate deteriorated and affected the rest of the organ. Slowly, they ended up dying too.

The code reds were the ones who scared Kara the most, not only them, but the possibility of Kara becoming one of them if something ever happened to her soulmate kept her awake at night sometimes.

She waited for Eliza to finish making the coffee, drinking it in the kitchen while she chatted with her family a little bit. Jeremiah was the last one to go down, he had overworked the night before so he wouldn't have any pending matters on Mating day. Kara then went upstairs to her room in order to get ready to work. She had to take a shower before changing clothes, surprisingly she managed to get flour even on her hair while baking. She left on her usual time, greeting the bus driver before getting in. Since she was punctual, she managed to get on the same bus every single day, so she saw pretty much the same faces inside.

At work, Nia was already at her desk when Kara arrived, greeting her with a wide grin. She asked for Kara's take on the piece she was working on, so Kara pulled her chair closer to Nia's so she could sit by her side and they would be able to review it together. It still amazed her that Nia saw her as a mentor, even though Kara was pretty far away from being the most experienced reporter on that floor. A smile grew on Kara's face as her eyes passed through the words, pointing out to Nia the parts that she liked the most and she could tell that every compliment made Nia shine even brighter.

Timing was their friend that day, they were already finished with the article when Cat called them to the meeting room. She gave her annual speech about the company status, the crew's productivity and what she expected from CatCo Magazine on the year to come. As predicted, the whole thing didn't last long and Kara was at the usual bar with her friends by lunchtime. As they walked inside, all James had to do was a sign and the barman already started filling five mugs with beer for his long time customers.

Kara couldn't help but wonder how long until the barman would be filling six mugs whenever they walked in.

"So, no pie this year?" James asked Kara they all sat down around their favorite table, the one close to the windows and on the right angle from the pool table. Kara slightly laughed, remembering the previous year when Kara showed up at CatCo carrying four chocolate pecan pies and Cat Grant was not happy to see that amount of carbohydrates and sugar inside her building at once. Kara did see her taking a slice tough, when no one else was looking.

"Cupcakes, actually." Kara told him after taking a sip of her strawberry cocktail, "My kitchen is overflowing with them."

"And how come we didn't get any?" Nia pouted.

"Last year I had to beg Miss Grant to let the pies stay. I think if I took cupcakes she would throw all of them at me."

"Yeah, she would totally do that. One at a time." Lucy laughed and Kara grimaced as she picture that scene very graphically in her head. Their beer was brought by a familiar waitress, who warmly greeted them as she put down their cups and Kara started rubbing her hands on one another as she looked at the drinks in front of her with excitement.

"Someone needs a drink." Nia laughed as she watched Kara eagerly grabbing her mug and pulling it closer to her.

"It's the Mating's eve." Kara shrugged as if it was enough explanation for everything.

"I thought you coped with baking. Not alcohol." Lucy had a smile of amusement on her face as she called Kara out.

"In this time of the year there's room for everything. Cheers to the Mating!" Kara lifted her cup, that shortly after met everyone else's as they happily clinked the glass together.

"To the Mating!" They chanted before they started drinking, Kara wasn't the biggest fan of beer, but she always drank it socially when around her friends. She wasn't into the bitter taste, but the cold temperature was welcomed, as well as the calming feeling that the alcohol seemed to spread as it went down her throat.

"So, you can have mine as well." Lucy pushed her cup towards Kara, whose eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Lucy would never turn down a drink, she never asked for another beer, since she was way more into fruit cocktails, but she never turned down their first round.

"You're not drinking?"

"Um... No."

"Why?" Nia questioned her, both her eyes and Kara staring at Lucy with curiosity as the other woman blushed.

"Well... We're trying. So I should cut off the drinking for now. And hopefully for the next nine months too, if everything goes well."

"That's great news!" They all widened their eyes as James wrapped Lucy's shoulders around his arm before kissing her forehead. Kara grinned as she watched them, feeling genuinely happy for the two of them. She met James Olsen before he was mated when she started working at CatCo as Cat's assistant and he was already a renowned reporter and photographer for the magazine. Kara was amazed by the pictures hanging on his office on the day that Cat demanded she delivered some papers to him. After that, they seemed to cross paths everywhere all the time, and a friendship slowly grew between them. James was a reporter, and Kara looked up to him the same way Nia does with her now. Different from Kara, who back then was only twenty and already felt her hands sweating even at the mention of the Mating, James was already twenty-five and not even a little bit worried about it. He used to tell Kara _it will happen when it has to_ , and, later that same year, it did happen.

The day after the Mating, when Kara was back to work, she found James dazzled in his chair, dreamy eyes staring at nowhere, lips curled into a smile. She didn't even have to ask to know he had been mated, and not long after that she was introduced to Lucy Lane, who Kara befriended quickly.

"To future baby Olsen?" Nia offered as she lifted her cup and they all cheered again.

"What can I get you, babe?" James asked Lucy, who thought for a few seconds.

"Just a club soda for me."

"Okay." He nodded before getting up from his chair and walking towards the counter, a smile growing on his face as he fist-bumped the barman while ordering Lucy's request.

"Listen, guys, this is the year. I'm feeling it." Kara started after a long sip that left her cup half empty, "There's something in my stomach. Something in my bones. I just know this is the year."

"You can't be drunk already, you're halfway through the cup." Lucy laughed loudly, knowing Kara had always been weak for alcohol, but one sip had never been enough.

"I'm not drunk! I'm serious."

"What did I miss?" James asked as he sat back down by his wife's side, putting her glass of club soda in front of her. She silently thanked him with a smile.

"Kara sounds pretty sure she'll be mated this year." Nia filled him in.

"I just have a feeling, okay?"

"Actually, I went through something quite similar." Brainy revealed, and everyone's eyes were wide on him. He wasn't the most talkative in the group, it was normal for him to stay quiet during the longest of their conversations, but he was always paying attention and added something when he thought was interesting. He had been mated to Nia on the year before, and it didn't take him long to move from Canada just to be with her. He had a more flexible job, what he did Kara was never really certain of, it had something to do with robotics at a multinational company, so all he had to do was transfer. Kara was the one who took Nia to the airport on the day he was coming, she didn't know how to drive back then, still doesn't, and he introduced himself as Brainy, telling her that he had been called that for so long he almost didn't respond to his real name anymore. He carried that nickname since high school, from where he graduated when he was only fourteen.

"Really? You never told me that." Nia was turned towards Brainy, who had his hands together as he tried to recall his emotions. 

"It was rather confusing though, something I cannot explain, but I didn't feel like that on my first year ready. Just on the second, that happened to be the one I was mated."

"See? Brainy gets it." Kara smiled, giving him a solidarity pat on the shoulder.

"Well, I hope your feeling or whatever is right. I'm really curious to meet your mate." James stated, a smirk on his face as he looked at Kara.

"How do you guys imagine Kara's perfect match?" Lucy said and Kara could feel her cheeks on fire as she fixed her glasses, which were in no need of fixing. She didn't like being the center of attention, but, with her friends around, she should always be ready for long hours of playful teasing, "What if it is a jock guy? Who doesn't even like to eat pastries, because of health and all of that, low sugar diet. Then he wakes up to a house full of croissants one day and freaks."

"Very funny. Thanks. That's just what I need to hear today." Kara rolled her eyes, finishing off with her cup and pulling closer the one that Lucy had offered her. She would be lying if she said she never considered the possibility of her mate being... Too different from her. Of course she wasn't expecting a clone of herself, but at least someone who would be okay with Chinese takeout at least two times a week and liked watching animated movies. Having those two bases, they could work together on other differences.

"Come on, you guys." Nia looked at them, her eyes filled with reprehension, "I think it's going to be like, an artsy girl. Who writes her poems and wakes her up with a violin."

"Aw. You think Kara's getting a hopeless romantic?" Lucy put her hands on her face, crushing her own cheeks. 

"Hey. I'm still here." Kara waved.

"What if we make a bet and whoever bets it closer gets the money?" James suggested.

"You guys are such great friends." Kara rolled her eyes, words sparkling with irony, but she had a small smile on her face as she watched her friends betting money on her love life. She had witnessed so many people go through the Mating, and being surrounded by that amount of love only made her want her turn to come more and more. She couldn't help but spend hours wondering who her soulmate would be. What if it was someone she already knew, like how it was with Alex and Kelly. Or someone from a different country, like what happened to Nia and Brainy. Would they really love Kara, even with all her quirks and flaws? Would Kara love them?

She went home later that day wishing for midnight to just come already. Hours seemed to slowly crawl as she sat down on the living room's carpet as she helped her niece make towers with lego pieces, honestly spending more time stopping her from putting those in her mouth rather than actually playing with her. Her family was sat around them on the living room, drinking wine and chatting mindlessly with the TV on as the news passed on the background, they were mostly about the Mating parties being set up around the world, whole streets filled with themed decorations as people gathered to celebrate the human connection worldwide, as well as the new year that was about to come.

Kara would never forget one particular night she spent out with her family, a year after Alex and Kelly were mated and Kara wasn't twenty-two yet, so it was safe to spend overnight celebrating. The snow falling slowly from the skies, covering the paper lanterns that hanged in front of every door on the street, one lantern for every mate that had been made, all of them had the year the connection was established written on them. When it was midnight, people gathered around the lake, carrying the said lanterns, only letting go of them when the clock hit midnight. Kara watched as her parents held theirs together, as well as Alex and Kelly, and her eyes followed the lanterns up, sharing space in the skies with the snowflakes and the fireworks from afar.

It was the most beautiful thing that Kara had ever seen. 

Her mind was back into the living room when one of the lego castle towers fell off and Cassie started to cry. That was a clear signal of what had to be done.

"I guess it's bedtime for you, baby." Kelly said as she got up from the couch where she was cuddling with Alex. She picked her daughter up from the floor, and Cassie immediately clung onto her mother's neck.

"Need help?"

"It's okay, I got her." Kelly winked as she carried her daughter to the nursery upstairs.

"I think I might go to bed too." Kara announced, getting up from the floor and stretching her legs.

"Already? As if you're not just going to lay there for the next three hours" Alex's eyebrows were together as she looked at Kara, who was still visibly anxious.

"I don't want to wait until midnight just to see what happens and almost get a concussion for falling head on the coffee table." Kara smirked at her sister, who sighed as she looked away, she didn't answer anything, but it was almost like Kara could hear her annoyed voice saying _you're never letting me live that down, are you?_ And the answer would be no.

"Good luck, honey." Eliza gave her a tight hug, caressing the back of her head as she always did, making Kara smile at her affectionate gesture. Jeremiah opened his arms, wrapping her in a bear hug, squeezing her hard in his grip.

"It's going to be alright kiddo." Jeremiah told her softly, "And, if it isn't this time-"

"Might be next time. I know." Kara smiled at him sadly, but understanding. It wasn't the first time she heard that, but she sure hoped it would be the last.

She walked upstairs, her room was on the last door of the hallway, that still had her name painted on it, even after twenty years had passed.

Kara had a very vivid memory from the day she moved in with her new family.

She was terrified at first, feeling extremely small inside the huge five-bedroom suburban house, surrounded by people she barely knew. Years later, Eliza told Kara they bought that huge house with the intention of having at least three children, but fertility got in the way, as well as the empty orphanages. On Kara's first night there, she was laying on the unfamiliar bed, not sure of what time it was, she only knew it was late. She left her bedroom for some water, Eliza had offered to leave a cup of water by the nightstand, but Kara was still too shy to admit she needed anything. When she returned upstairs, holding tight to the only thing she still had from her birth family, a stuffed penguin, she didn't remember which door took to her room anymore. There were so many on the hallway. She took a guess and accidentally opened Alex's door, startling her awake. At that point, Kara was intimidated by Alex, who didn't welcome her as warmly as her parents did, keeping her distance from Kara through the whole day.

"What are you doing here?" Alex had asked her, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"I don't remember where my room is." Kara teary whispered, not making eye contact with her, who was older and intimidating.

Alex pressed her lips, thinking for a few seconds before getting up from her bed, taking a brush from inside a can where she kept all of her pencils and crayons. She also grabbed a small blue paint jar from inside her school backpack, tiptoeing outside her bedroom as Kara followed her close behind. On the door across the hallway, she painted Kara's name on the surface. She then walked to the closed one on their right, silently painting "Mom and Dad" on it while Kara watched her from the corner. Lastly, she painted her own name on her bedroom's door, looking back at Kara with a sympathetic smile on her face.

"If you ever need me," She said, pointing to her door, "You open this one."

After that, Kara was finally able to sleep. Heart warmer at the thought of having a friend, a sister. Alex and her were like one as the years passed, and there was no one in the world she trusted more than her.

"Hey." Alex called her, slowly opening the door. Kara laughed slightly as if her thinking of her sister summoned her to her bedroom. She was laying in bed, already changed into her pajamas, that were actually a worn t-shirt she had since she was seventeen and some sweatpants that had been recently washed, so smelled like lavender.

"Hey." Kara smiled at her, who gesticulated to the side for her to move over and open space on the bed for Alex to join her. She then rested her head on her sister's lap, and Alex started caressing her head softly.

"I really hope your feeling is right." Her sister whispered, "And I also hope your soulmate is everything you expect them to be."

"Do you think we actually fall in love with our soulmates?" Kara asked, her blue eyes staring at the pictures on the wall above her desk, "Or we just think we do because that's what's expected of us?"

"I'm not with Kelly to this day because we are soulmates. I am with her because I truly love her and can't imagine myself being with anyone else, nor want to. The Mating didn't make me love her. She did that."

That was enough to ease Kara's mind and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

She only opened her eyes again on the next day, the right side of her head wincing and her vision blurry. She kept closing and opening her eyes, that felt heavy in an unnatural way, not like she was sleepy, just dizzy. When she was finally able to fully snap them open, she had no idea where she was. There was nothing familiar on those walls with what appeared to be a baby pink wallpaper ripped in multiple places, it was hard to see any colors since the only source of light inside the room was a candle, almost on its end over a wooden stool. The only window was on her right, but it had been barred with wooden plates that covered every inch of it, blocking out any light that could possibly come in.

Her heart started racing as she put herself sat on the bed, feeling the mattress hard against her hips and trying to control her breathing while she wrapped her mind around the fact she was currently inside someone else's body. She lifted her arms, that weren't actually hers, and studied the hands, pale, skinny and long. She could feel hair against her back, also a strand of it falling over her face, black, straight, smelling like soap. She was wearing an oversized flannel shirt, that was big enough to look like a dress, the sleeves would probably fit three of her arms inside, so Kara figure that shirt most likely wasn't hers.

She got up, the floor felt cold against her bare feet, walked around the room, looking for a mirror, but the only furniture inside was the bed, the stool with the candle, and a chest made of wood, that had its surface carved with beautiful patterns that looked like clouds. It was strange, of course, a bedroom almost empty, totally closed, but she tried to not let herself be scared yet. She walked to the door, if there wasn't a mirror there, she would certainly find one on the bathroom.

It was locked. She forced the handle, one, two, three times, but it was definitely locked from the outside. Panic took over her, she didn't understand why would someone be locked in a bedroom like that, it reminded her of the suspense movies she had seen, where people were... What was the word again? Kidnapped? It sounded crazy, being taken against their will and locked up in a dark room for a long time... But it looked exactly like the situation Kara was in. The situation her soulmate was in. For how long? Was someone looking for her? Who could possibly do that to her?

"Hello?" Kara tried, knocking on the door, feeling a little bit like an idiot for doing that from the inside.

"Listen to me, very carefully." The response came faster than Kara would ever expect. Whomever it was, it had been waiting by the door for her to give any sign she was conscious. Kara leaned against the door, trying to listen to the rough voice a little bit better, her heart on her throat, her head spinning, "You're going to wake up tomorrow inside your own body. And you will leave me and my daughter alone. Are we clear?"

"What?" Kara did understand what he said, as much as his heavy accent and the closed-door between her made it a little harder. At least, her soulmate hadn't been kidnapped like she thought, "I'm... I'm your daughter's soulmate. I don't want to cause her any harm."

"Stay away from us. Or you'll regret it. You don't want to become a Split. Do you?"

Kara gulped, not believe in the words she heard, as clear as they were. Was he really threatening to kill her soulmate? His own daughter? Was he absolutely insane?

Her silence was enough for him, and Kara could hear his heavy steps walking away from the door. She also stepped away from it, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to keep it together and clear her head, but she wasn't able to stop the tears from jumping from her eyes. Why was that happening to her? Everyone else's mating was magical, or funny, but Kara's was looking like a horror story to tell at night on a campfire.

She tried to control herself, wiping the tears off her cheeks with anger. She was a journalist. She needed to be logical. To gather evidence. She was trapped inside that room, but even the smallest of details could be precious clues. She already knew many things: He wasn't a native English speaker, his accent was heavy, he spoke slowly and with pauses. She didn't recognize the accent, but she could figure that out later. The house was silent, so they didn't have any neighbors. The floor was cold and so was the house. She could smell firewood burning somewhere downstairs, so they had a fireplace. They produced smoke. Meaning they could be seen from afar.

Her best chance of knowing more was the chest, and she was really relieved when she noticed it didn't have any locks. She opened it without much effort, finding mostly clothes inside. Not many though, but all of them were definitely male, judging by their size and style. Kara pulled one of the pants, that the bottom part of its legs cut, probably to fit someone not as taller as the original owner, as well as some shoelaces, to be used as belts maybe? She took the clothes off from the chest, revealing many pieces of paper stored on the bottom of the chest as if they were the most important items inside and needed to be protected. Kara took them all, sitting on the floor while she took a look.

Every single one of them was a little bit wrinkled as if they had been discarded, then recovered. On one side, there were parts of what looked like documents, in an unfamiliar language. On the other side, drawings. Very realistic drawings, made with charcoal. One of a lake. Another one of a forest. One of the sky. There was no way Kara would remember any of the drawings with details afterwards, but her mind was more in awe at their quality than anything else, she could barely draw a stick man right, so it would always amaze her that people with that range of artistic ability existed.

The last piece was of a man. Jet black hair, long beard, age markings on his forehead and under his eyes. Her soulmate's father?

The candlelight was about to die when it reflected something on the corner of the room, close to the barred window. Kara furrowed her eyebrows, leaning closer to whatever that was. Her heart skipped a bit when she realized it was a small fragment of a shattered mirror. There used to be a mirror in that room, but the man broke it, probably so Kara wouldn't have any idea of how her soulmate looked like, making her even harder to find.

But just that small piece, that wasn't bigger than Kara's thumb, was enough for her to see her face.

She touched her cheek, hands trembling, still not believing what she was seeing on the mirror. The most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Her green eyes were ethereal. Her jawline was sharp, her eyebrows thick. As Kara studied her face, she tried to wonder what her name was.

The spell was broken when the light went off, so Kara could no longer see her reflection, or anything, for that matter. She used her hands to guide her back to the chest and sighed as she evaluated her options. She wasn't willing to just go on with her life without ever seeing her soulmate again. She waited so many years for her turn to come. She didn't know anything about her, except she was an impressive artist. She wanted to know more, she wanted to know everything. How could she just give up on that?

And, if her soulmate's father went that far to keep Kara from even finding out who she was, it didn't make sense for him to be actually considering... Hurting her. So he was bluffing. He had to be.

Kara knew what she had to do.

So, before she put everything back inside the chest, she used the sharpest part of the mirror piece on her hand to carve a message on the bottom of it.

_"I will find you."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story was born after [I found this prompt on a pinterest folder](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/99/f2/5c99f264b232df9d6b627751525253e0.jpg)
> 
> I only made it angsty. And added biology. And put it all inside a Utopia. 
> 
> thank you for reading!


	2. Lena

Lena's grip was firm on the horned bow's string as she locked her target with her right eye. Her finger was burning as she kept it held, the cold wind on her face, spreading her raven hair all around her back. She counted three heartbeats before letting the string go, watching as the arrow pierced through the air and went right through the white rabbit's chest, knocking it down immediately. 

She felt her father's heavy hands on her shoulder, squeezing it as he silently complimented her for the clean kill. He had trained Lena for years, starting off as soon as she was old enough to have the strength to pull the string all the way back. At first, she had the trees as targets, big and static, they were not a big challenge to Lena. After that, bottles, smaller, placed further away from her. These were a bit harder, but it didn't take her long to master. Living things were the last ones on road but, by then, she didn't have to be taught how to aim or when to shoot, the real challenge there was being cold-blooded enough. By the end of her training, she had surpassed her master, her accuracy was superior to his, as well as her steadiness, but that was probably because her father was getting older. He didn't see as well as he used to. He wasn't as strong as he was ten years ago. 

He walked towards their prey, pulling out the arrow from it's chest before tying it to the rest of the rabbits he carried. Their dinner for the night was guaranteed, so he signed towards the direction of their cabin with his head and they both started walking back, following their own footsteps on the muddy floor. The smell of the forest after a night of rain was somewhat purifying to Lena, as much as the mud was making walking even harder for her, it was already hard since she was wearing boots too big for her feet, she would always appreciate the rain's ability to clean it all. 

He lead the way back in silence, her father was always a quiet man. He didn't like the small talk about the weather or sharing his thoughts on their hunting trips. He sometimes told Lena stories about the past but was always annoyed when she asked about it. Lena learned with the time that her father would never recover from losing the world he knew and that the best she could do was just not poking open wounds. 

She was just five when it happened, a five-year-old is mostly just starting to create long term memories about the world around them, so Lena no longer remembered her mother or her brother, she just knew they existed and, as cold as it sounded, she didn't mourn them. But her father? Probably struggled to keep on living without them, and was doing it all for her, for Lena. 

On their last night of her old life, she remembered going to sleep. Her bedroom used to be yellow, there were daisies painted on the walls, sharing the space with her drawings. Her parents weren't home, as well as her older brother, they were all out together doing something that Lena had no idea of what it was anymore. They left her in the cares of her nanny, someone that no longer had a face, a name, or a voice in Lena's memories. She was abruptly awakened by her father's trembling bloody hands as he was shaking her awake. She was so sleepy that took her some time to realize how desperate he was. He took her in his arms and ran downstairs. Lena then saw more blood, this time on the floor, coming from her nanny's body, fallen on the floor with a knife on her throat. 

Never in her life Lena had seen violence before. And, as much as the memories from that night were cloudy, that specific part would never stop haunting her. She asked her father what happened, and he told her the world had gone crazy. Peopled had gone berserk. Her mother drove their car straight to a wall. She died and killed Lena's brother in the process. Her father escaped with some bruises, and he ran home for Lena. The nanny attacked him as soon as he walked through the door. So he had to defend himself. He had to do it, in order to save his little girl. They had to leave and had to leave as fast as they could, before someone had the chance to hurt them. 

He ran to the car with Lena on his arms and drove them away for hours, so many hours that Lena fell asleep again at some point, her head resting on the backpack her father had filled with her clothes. When she woke up, her father was carrying her in his arms. That was when she saw the sign for the first time. Back then, it still had colors, the rainbow painted across it was still vivid, even with the overgrown roots that started to steal its space. 

Looking at it now, Lena could barely see the letters in "Camp Lockwood" anymore. It was all faded and the roots covered most of it. 

Her father told her that his father used to take him there almost every summer when he was a kid. He said he waited all year long for the week they spent there and had a great time engaging in all the activities the camp offered, finishing, canoeing, swimming, archery, they used to be thrilling, especially for a kid who had to grow up in a city. It was fun to think about it. To think that all of the things that Lena and her father now did to survive, he once did for fun. 

The camp closed shortly after Lena was born, so she never had the chance of going there with her family. The owner died and the closest heir didn't want anything to do with managing the place. He was also pretty frustrated all he was able to sell were the motorized boats, so he left everything else behind and had no intention of returning. That turned out great for Lena and her father, however, since when they arrived with nowhere else to go, all of the cabins were still furnished. All they had to do was clean away the dust and call it home. They chose cabin eleven, it was the closest to the river and had the manual generator just behind it, even though the thing stopped working a couple of years ago, Lena still had the hope that she would be able to fix it someday... Or she just permanently broke it after all the failed attempts of making it work again. 

When they arrived, her father gathered some of the wood logs in the pile next to the door and took off his boots before walking in. He threw some inside the fireplace, the rest he would use to cook dinner. Lena sat on the couch after igniting the fire on the fireplace, staring at the bookcase in front of her, asking herself which book she was willing to read again. She was able to gather many of them from an office in cabin number one, the only one that was different from the others, was probably where the old owner of the camp used to stay. There, she also found a huge supply of paper. Some of them still inside a closed package, but most of them had one side printed with documents, bureaucracy, the other side, however, was empty, and that was enough for Lena to have something to draw on. At first, she still had the pens and pencils she found on that very same office, but then she ran out of it. Nothing she couldn't fix though, charcoal was even better to draw with. But when she ran out of paper as well, she didn't really know what to do next. 

Luckily, her father had an idea. He took her to cabin number nine, the one that had the best lighting during the day. He had her eyes covered with his hand as he guided her inside, she was giggling as she walked sloppily, trying not to bump into anything. When he let go of her, she widened her green eyes at her surroundings, all of the walls were covered in white paint. A huge canvas to draw on. And the best part? If she ran out of space, she could just wash it off and start fresh. 

"Come eat." She was halfway through the third chapter of Carmilla when her father's voice broke the silence. She left the closed book over the coffee table and walked towards him, sitting on the chair by his side where her plate had already been placed. He gave her a small smile, one that he always did as if he was always happy to see her, and started eating. It tasted bittersweet, her father knew his way around spices, especially the ones they were able to cultivate on that land. It was fertile enough for some herbs, potatoes, and carrots, but nothing beyond that. The abrupt change in diet was hard for them at first, especially since they used to be wealthy, but slowly their body adapted and was able to make the most with what they've got.

It was only when the colors on her plate started to mix that she knew something was wrong. She blinked a few times, holding tight to the edge of the table as she tried to keep her balance. The last time she felt anything like that was when she was a child, around ten, eleven years old, and fell against a rock while she was chasing a fox. She got hurt pretty badly that day, her head bleeding as she ran crying to her father's arms. It hurt, even more, when he patched it up.

"Lena?" Her father's voice faded in the darkness that grew in the corner of her eyes. He jumped from his chair, trying to catch Lena's body before she fell on the floor, but he couldn't. The last thing she felt was her head hitting the hard floor, then her heart on her throat as she bolted awake, falling off the bed she didn't even remember being onto in the first place. 

She was gasping for air as she studied her surroundings. It was a bedroom. Not her bedroom, definitely. That one had a light shade of blue on the walls, a double bed in the middle of two nightstands, one of them with a lamp, the other with a small pile of books. Lena used the bed as support to get up from the floor, still dizzy, but less desperate. There were so many things inside that room, a wardrobe, a desk with an unfamiliar device resting over it, had a screen attached to buttons with letters on them, sharing its space with pieces of paper, pens, and pencils spread on the surface. She walked slowly towards the pictures on the wall, staring at the unfamiliar faces present on them. She felt something kind of heartwarming about those smiles, genuine and wide as they faced the camera. There were also pictures of places, a park, a street at night, a... what was that? Lena didn't know what it was, but it was blue and green at the same time and it looked enormous. Maybe a little bit intimidating too. She wanted to draw it. 

She widened her eyes when she noticed the picture on the top, floating lights on the night sky. Lena asked herself if it was real at first. But of course it was! It was a picture. She wished she could see it, actually see it, whatever it was. She asked herself where she was. She knew how every bedroom in the camp cabins looked like, and they were nothing like that one. That one was so... Welcoming. With the white curtains, the fluffy rug bellow her feet, the bedsheets with the flower pattern and way more pillows than what a person needed. 

Lena had never stopped to think about it before, but the bedrooms at the camp didn't look like they belonged to anyone at all, not even hers. Meanwhile, that room had the owner presence in every single detail in the interior. There was a pair of glasses on the nightstand, a book resting by its side. Lena couldn't read the title, but the cover was green, with a boy lifting a lightning on his hand. There was a forgotten mug almost falling off the surface where it rested, 

Her attention shifted to the open window after she heard a horn coming from outside. She furrowed her eyebrows, leaning over the window seat as she put her head outside, seeing the cars passing through the streets, people walking out with their dogs, waving at each other with smiles, carrying shopping bags to their homes. It looked... Normal. Nothing like she imagined it would be. Nothing like her father described. 

And she had so many questions. She could be dreaming. But that would hardly be true since there was so much around her she wasn't familiar with, also the people on the pictures were complete strangers and their faces were clear, vivid. Least likely, but she still considered the possibility, that she had been in a coma and that was actually her bedroom? 

Yeah. That probably wasn't it. 

When Lena turned towards the door, it was the first time she noticed the mirror. She was fast to cover her mouth with her hands, otherwise, she would have screamed so loud the amicable people down the street would be able to hear her. Her eyes were widened in horror as she looked at the reflection that most definitely wasn't hers. She didn't recognize the blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckled skin. Actually, she did recognize, it was one of the girls in the picture.

She waved at the mirror, just to be sure it was actually her. She then tried to breathe, in and out, trying not to freak out. The most rational, yet still irrational, explanation for that was that she somehow was inside that girl's body. 

But, if that was true, it also meant that she and her father had been living exiled from a perfectly functional world for the last seventeen years... How? 

Lena pressed her lips, taking a deep breath before walking towards the door and opening it. She had to figure out what was going and she wouldn't be able to do that if she just stood inside that bedroom. She walked through the hallway, her eyes studying every inch of her surroundings. She went downstairs silently, but not on purpose, she was just used to walk stealthily in places she wasn't familiar with. That house was huge, so it was clear that, whoever that girl was, she did not live alone. Downstairs, she could see a kitchen, a living room, and more closed doors to her right. The kitchen smelled like something Lena most definitely knew what was, but forgot the name of it. She crossed the arch that led to the kitchen, the smell more intense as she approached the jar with the dark liquid. She smelled it closer, her mind working hard to recall the name...

"Boo!" Lena bolted in place and almost dropped the mugs that were placed side by side on the counter at the sound of the voice coming from nowhere. It took her a few seconds of looking around until she found the source of it, a little human inside a playpen placed between the kitchen and the living room. Their cheeks were flustered and their marble eyes were staring at Lena as they opened and closed their tiny hands towards her. Lena was frozen in place, because that was probably the first time she had ever seen a baby in her life. Or at least from what she remembered. 

She took a few steps closer, the baby smiling at her as if they knew her. After she thought about that, of course, the baby knew her, not her, but the woman whose body she was inside. She hesitantly leaned her hand towards the baby, and they grabbed one of her fingers, squeezing it and using it as support to climb to their feet. Lena couldn't help but smile at that, wondering how the baby and the unknown woman were related. 

She heard another voice coming from the hallway and, before she could prepare herself, a woman appeared on the doorstep of the living room, she held what was probably a telephone against her cheek with the help of her shoulder as she carried a basket with clothes. She widened her eyes at the sight of Lena, and Lena immediately jumped back from the baby at the sight of her. The baby fell sitting on the floor, what probably didn't hurt, but was so abruptly that they started crying, and Lena felt like a monster for making that happen. 

The woman turned off the phone and put the basket over the couch. She took a step towards Lena, and Lena immediately took a step backward. The woman was visibly taken aback by Lena's reaction, so she lifted her hands in a defensive way, not like she was afraid of Lena, but like she knew that Lena was afraid of her. She carefully walked closer, and Lena stepped back until she hit the wall and couldn't move away anymore. The woman was talking, in a low tone and a calming way, but Lena couldn't make anything out of it. 

For many years, Lena had feared the day she would ever see a human again since she believed they were dangerous. Of course, she wondered that people like her and her father, who remained sane, probably existed, but the chances of her finding someone crazy looked very much higher. 

But, looking at that woman, she didn't really feel like she had any reason to be afraid. It made the wold she had believed for so many years look like it didn't exist. 

"Kelly." It was the first thing she said that made sense. She was pointing towards herself as she said that, so Lena figured it was her name. Kelly. 

When Kelly pointed at her, it didn't take her long to guess that Kelly wanted to know her name as well.

"Lena."

Kelly then nodded with a smile. She picked the baby up, kissing her forehead while she whispered comforting words. The baby slowly stopped crying as they rested their head on the woman's shoulders, and, somehow, Lena just knew that she was their mother. She hesitantly pointed at the baby, the same way Kelly had done to ask her name. Kelly seemed confused for a second, then she realized what Lena wanted to know.

"Oh! Cassie." Kelly told her with a smile. Lena smiled too. It was a pretty name and it fit her. 

Still holding the baby, Kelly pulled a chair and looked at Lena, who slowly walked closer and sat down. She watched as Kelly walked away from the kitchen and eventually left Lena's field of view. She gulped, feeling strangely afraid of being alone, since, seconds before, she had been scared at the fact that she wasn't. Kelly then returned, followed by a red-haired woman that kept rubbing her eyes as she walked. Lena remembered her from some of the pictures she had seen back at the bedroom. 

She looked at Lena and a grin grew across her face. That was when Lena realized a huge piece of the puzzle. 

They knew, somehow, that she was inside that woman's body. Maybe not her specifically, but they knew, they expected it, and they were happy about it. 

Kelly said something to the woman, that widened her eyes before she looked back at Lena.

"Alex." She said, her finger pointing at her own chest. Lena introduced herself again, with only her name since that was all they could understand. Alex seemed to think for a while before running out of the kitchen, returning with a piece of paper that Lena identified as a map when it was put in front of her. Alex put her index finger over a dot on a country on the left corner of the map. 

National City. The United States. 

Alex and Kelly looked at her with expectancy. They probably wanted to know where she was from. 

She didn't really know how to find it on the map, the world had gone crazy before Lena could even start going to school... Well, at least she thought, but she knew the name of her homeland, so she started reading the map until she found Ireland, touching over it with the tip of her finger. She couldn't be more specific than that though, she had no idea of which city they lived in. 

She stared at the huge and blue gap between The United States and Ireland. She was really far away from home. 

The shock in both of the women's face was visible. Alex said something that made Kelly grimace and slap her arm, covering the baby's ears afterward. 

Then she left the kitchen again, this time returning with a device that looked purely like a screen. Lena's eyes stared at it, curiously as Alex used her finger to navigate across the screens. Alex sighed for a second, a funny expression on her face as she rapidly clicked on letters, Lena could barely keep up with what she was doing. 

_"Hello, Lena."_ The robotic voice said and Lena almost jumped back from the chair. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at the small device from where the voice was coming from, _"I'm Alex, your soulmate's sister."_

She then offered Lena the thing that spoke robotic Irish and Lena just looked at it, not knowing what to do. Alex and Kelly shared a look as if Lena not knowing what to do with that was the most surprising aspect of that whole situation. 

Alex went to Lena's side and slowly clicked on the letters again, this time, Lena understood what was going on. She was writing what she wanted the thing to say. Lena then tried, pressing letter by letter, frustrated every time she made a mistake because the letters were too small, but Alex noticed that and taught her how to erase. After what seemed like forever, she was finished with her three-word phrase. 

_"What is a soulmate?"_ The robotic voice said in their language. They shared a look again and Lena was already sick of not understanding what they were saying to each other. 

Soulmate. It looked like something important. Something that Lena most definitely should know the meaning for, especially judging by the two women's reactions towards her clueless response to the matter. 

Two more people appeared in the kitchen, and Kelly gave them a warning look as she talked to them, probably filling them in on the situation. The older woman gave Lena the warmest look of pity, while the only man in the house was holding his chin as he heard Kelly talking, his eyebrows together as he looked completely lost.

Lena was... Uncomfortable. She couldn't remember the last time she had been in such a crowded place before, and that was making her hands sweat and her heart pound. She focused on the marble surface where she was resting her arms, trying to look at the one place she wouldn't see anyone. She didn't know them. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how she ended up there. She didn't know if she would ever return to her own body. 

She only realized she was gasping for air when a hand touched her shoulder. She was startled by the sudden touch, and Kelly immediately put her hand away. Even though Lena couldn't understand, she was pretty sure Kelly was apologizing. She then said something to the rest of the people in the kitchen, and they all left, one by one. Kelly handed Alex the baby before she left, leaving Lena alone with her. Kelly then walked towards the counter, filling a glass cup with hot chocolate she took from a pot over the stove. Lena's mouth watered at the sight of that, she didn't even remember what the taste of milk was like anymore, chocolate even less.

She offered Lena the cup and she took it gladly, taking a sip of it and closing her eyes as she enjoyed the taste, so sweet and warm that made her whole chest warm up as well. Felt comforting. Made her smile. She wished she could have something like that during the cold winters in the woods when not even the heat coming from the fireplace was enough to keep Lena's fingers from freezing. 

_"Can I make some questions?"_ Kelly used the thing that knew languages to say that.

Lena nodded, and Kelly sat down by her side. She stared at nowhere at first, as if she didn't even know where to start, what to ask first, And neither did Lena. But she had so many questions. What was a soulmate? Why was everyone acting like Lena being inside someone else's body was to be expected?

_"You have no idea of what's happening, do you?"_

Lena shook her head in denial, her eyes burning with tears. Kelly's look towards her was understanding and Lena knew she could trust her. 

_"Do you live alone?"_

_"Father."_ Lena decided to go for one word only as she typed, it would make things quicker, simpler, and she hated writing on that thing already, but Kelly seemed to take that as more than enough to understand. 

_"And what is his name?"_

Lena blinked at the question. She had no idea. She always called him father and, since it was just the two of them, it wasn't like there was anyone around to call him anything else. They lived in their little bubble, where many things that used to be important no longer made sense, and that included names. Her father was just... Father. 

_"What about your other parent?"_

_"Died."_

Kelly froze at that. She didn't look like she was expecting that answer, but Lena also wasn't expecting that reaction. Not that she had much experience with telling people that someone in her family died, but in the books, the reaction carried pity rather than fear, and the latter was all Lena could see in Kelly's eyes at that moment. 

_"When?"_ Kelly's hands trembled as she typed that. She looked at Lena with expectancy as she looked for the letters that would build her sentence. It was unnerving how easy it was for her to lose the letters in such a small space, why couldn't they just be ordered like in the alphabet? 

_"I was five."_

Kelly covered her mouth with her hand. Lena shook her head as if saying that she didn't understand what was so shocking. Kelly took a deep breath, taking the small thing with the robotic lady inside and started writing. Lena watched, always amazed by the agility everyone else seemed to have while writing on that thing. When Kelly put the device down the table and pressed play, Lena's eyes grew bigger as she heard the words, that were clear but at the same time made no sense. 

When Lena was a kid, one of the few toys she had was a soap bubble maker. It was green, with little frogs all around it. She used to blow a bubble as high as she could and follow it, until it either collided against a branch or it just reached its breaking point, slowly disappearing from the bottom to the top, until it ceased to exist leaving no trace behind. It was like she was watching something exactly like that happen, but with her life. With everything that she believed was true. With all of her fears of the outside world. With every single word her father ever said to her. 

Soulmates. 

The reason why Lena was there and the reason why Kelly was so horrified with the fact that her mother had died so many years ago. And, thinking about it, made perfect sense. It filled every inch of the gap between the world Lena lived in and the world that she had just encountered. Her mother had died, and that doomed her father to three possible destinies. In one, he would be sick and eventually die. In other, he would just... Be there, without actually being there. None of that had happened to him, so he was left with the third and worst, according to Kelly. He became delusional and most likely violent. He became what he told Lena everyone else, but the two of them had become. 

He created a whole world inside his mind and trapped Lena there with him. 

She looked down at not-her feet and sighed, trying to wrap her head around the fact that all that time she could have been living in a real home. Shopping for groceries instead of hunting. Covered by warm blankets while laying in a comfortable bed instead of sleeping in front of the fireplace during the coldest nights. But she wasn't angry at her father, she knew that he was only trying to protect her from what he thought was true. 

"Lena" Kelly called her attention. She said something more, followed by a worried frown. Lena didn't need to speak English to understand that she said she was sorry. 

Eventually, people needed to use the kitchen, so Kelly suggested Lena went back to the bedroom she woke up in, so she could feel more comfortable with fewer people surrounding her. She nodded, more than happy with that suggestion, following Alex upstairs right after. Kelly excused herself, telling them she had some matter to attend to, but Lena felt okay by Alex's side. There was something about both of them that gave her some sense of safety. 

Alex opened the bedroom door and went inside, but Lena stopped herself from walking when she noticed blue letters on the door. It caught her attention, so Lena pulled the door slightly closed so she could see it better. She touched the letters, barely feeling the difference in texture between the painted lines and the rest of the wooden surface, but it was still there. 

It read _Kara._

That was her soulmate's name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dear readers, today I offer you more questions than answers  
> tomorrow? who knows...
> 
> thank you all for the comments and kudos on the last one!


	3. Kara

Never before Kara was so glad to be awakened by the sunlight coming through the window.

She breathed out in relief when she felt the warmth of the sun's touch on her skin, closing her eyes again as she processed the last twenty-four hours of her life. She had pictured that day for so long, the day where she would exchange bodies with her soulmate and find out who the person she was going to spend her whole life with was. Kara was the creative type, so her mind was always onto something, especially after she turned fifteen and all she could think about was how her mating day was going to be. 

She imagined herself waking up in the morning, inside her soulmate's bedroom, using every small item in there to find out more about who they were. She would probably guess their favorite color first, judging by the palette of the objects and the paint on the wall. She would find out their favorite songs by looking into their Spotify playlists on their phone. She would go over the books on their bookshelf and probably find out their favorite genre (she always hoped it would be fantasy) and also would discover their favorite foods after exploring the kitchen. Maybe she would get to know some of their family, their friends, and it would be a day she would never want to forget. 

In the end, all she wanted was to just forget as soon as possible the long hours she spent alone in that cold bedroom. 

She lifted her arms, glad to see her own hands again, and smelled her bedsheets, the familiar smell of home settling her heart a little bit. Almost instantly, her door was open as if there was someone outside just waiting for her to wake up. Alex was on the doorstep, her lips pressed into a thin line as she studied her sister, both of them looking at each other in the eye. It didn't take long for Kara to break down, letting the tears out followed by sobs that she tried to keep inside the whole time she was in that dark room.

Alex rushed to her side, wrapping Kara in a hug as she held her tightly. And Kara just cried, because why couldn't it just be easy like it had been with everyone else around her? Why couldn't her soulmate be someone she already knew like it was with Alex and Kelly? Why couldn't they be someone who lived a few blocks away from her like it happened to James and Lucy?

But Kara wasn't fond of feeling sorry for herself, and she wasn't planning to start that now, not after so many years waiting for her mating to happen. She just needed that one moment in her sister's arms, and then she would be ready to take upon action, to start thinking about what she would do next. She had to figure out how she could reach her soulmate, and she was hoping that maybe her family was able to get something from her about where she was. 

"Kara... What happened there?" Alex asked, her voice breaking as if she wasn't sure she should ask.

"He just- locked me." Kara stuttered, her lower lip trembling as she almost started to cry again, "The whole time I was there, I spent inside this locked room with barred windows."

"Oh, Kara... I'm so sorry..."

"It's fine I just- I have to find her, Alex."

"We are on it. I mean, Kelly is on it, she made some calls yesterday and she went to the Center first thing in the morning. Even though Lena didn't speak English we were able to get precious information from her-"

"Her name is Lena?" Kara cut Alex off, her mind immediately focusing only on her soulmate's name in the middle of Alex's sentence, standing out from everything else she said. Alex gave Kara a small smile as she nodded. 

_Lena._

And it sounded just... Right. It matched perfectly with the piercing green eyes Kara remembered from the reflection she saw on that shattered mirror piece. 

"Yeah. And she's... She's great." Alex's eyes were a little dazzled as she said that and Kara furrowed her eyebrows, "I mean, would say she's great."

"But, wait, Kelly went to the Center?" Kara shook her head as she tried to focus on what was most important at that moment, "Why?"

"Lena's father is a code red split." Alex said it quickly and Kara's heart skipped a beat after hearing that. It not only made sense but it also made a lot of other things start to make sense as well. It explained his aggressiveness towards Kara and the extreme measures he took to keep his daughter's identity hidden, as well as the reason for that. Maybe Lena was everything he had, "So they must have a file about him not reporting to the Center after his mate's death."

It was the law. When your mate dies, you must report to the Center within twenty-four hours for physical and psychological evaluation, so they can determine which type of split you will be and accommodate you in there according to your results. 

"That must be Kelly." Alex told her sister, looking at the window from where she heard the familiar car engine turning off just outside their house. After so many years listening to that very same car coming and going, they would recognize the sound anywhere, "She'll be able to explain better."

"Okay." Kara nodded slowly, following her sister outside her bedroom. Downstairs, they met Kelly opening the front door, hanging her beige coat on the rack that was placed by it. She gave them a very small smile and hugged Kara, in a way that she never did before, so Kara knew that, whatever was the news she got, they weren't good.

"Let's talk in the living room." Kelly suggested. Kara sighed, her heart beating rapidly against her chest as the anxiety started to get the best of her, but walked with them towards the couch, sitting by her sister's side while Kelly sat down on the armchair across from them, "I spoke with a lot of people today, but as much as I insisted, they didn't grant me access to patient files that aren't mine. But Lucy can get it, so I already called her, and she's onto that."

Lucy worked at National City's center alongside Kelly. But, while Kelly was a psychologist, Lucy's was what they called a gatherer, her work was closer to the outside, she was the first one to know when someone's mate died, so she could watch the split closely, contact them to remind them they should report to the Center and make sure they did, even if, sometimes, she had to... Force them. 

A lot of people were afraid of the Center. Because they knew that, once they got in, they would never get out. 

Not that it was the Center's fault, but being admitted was a life sentence. The code yellows were usually the lucky ones, who got a few more weeks, maybe months with their family and freedom before their own bodies started to kill them from inside out. It had been like that for Kara's mother, she had eleven days before she started coughing blood. But, before that, she was already looking for a new family for her daughter, because she knew it would only be a matter of time before she wasn't around to care for her anymore.

The code greens had no pattern. Kara had witnessed two very different cases, one was during an interview she did, with a widow that was still perfectly functional two months after her husband's death. Days later, however, she just... Turned off all of a sudden. Before that, she went to a funeral, a distant cousin of the Danvers passed away, and his husband was already frozen and unresponsive before his body was even buried under the ground. 

The code reds... Were just too dangerous to be around society. If they were diagnosed as reds they weren't even allowed to leave the Center anymore. Kara found that out during one of the visits she did to her mother, shortly before her death, where a man threw a chair against a window when he heard that someone else was supposed to go to his house and fetch his personal belongings. The glass chattered, but Jeremiah was there in the waiting room with her, he used his body to shield Kara from the sharp pieces that almost pierced through her skin. 

She wondered if Lena's father ever hurt her.

She really hoped not. 

"How are we ever going to find him?" Kara's lower lip trembled as she spoke, not that she wasn't already grateful for how far Kelly had gone to help her, but how long was it possibly going to take for them to check the whole world after a man they didn't even know the name?, "I mean, there's a Center in every city-."

"Actually, we know they're from Ireland, Lena was able to tell us. So, narrowing the search there we could get something maybe even today, if we are lucky" Alex told her, easing her concerns a little bit. 

"We will find them, Kara." Kelly told her, there was tenderness in her dark eyes, "I promise." 

"Thank you, Kelly." Kara gave her a sad smile.

"There's something else though." Alex cleared her throat, Kelly was looking at her as if she knew exactly what Alex was about to say, "Lena... Didn't know about the Mating."

"What? How?" Kara's blue eyes were wide as she looked at her sister in disbelief. _Everyone_ knows about the Mating, it is impossible not to. It is everywhere, in magazines, newspapers, television, music, movies, people all around talk about it all the time, since it's one of the most important events in a person's life, and the whole world shares it.

"She had no clue what was going on." Kelly told her, slowly, 

"She also didn't really know what to do with a phone." Alex continued, "She looked at it as if it was the first time she ever saw something like that."

"And that face she made when I gave her hot chocolate..." 

"What face?" Kara asked, curious.

"Like she never tried it before." Kelly sighed with worry on her eyes and a crinkled forehead, "I've connected the dots, with all the fragments of information she gave us. She told me that her mother died when she was five, and, when I asked about where her father and here currently live, she answered with a name. "Camp Lockwood". I couldn't find it online, so it probably has been abandoned since before they went there, seventeen years ago. That would explain how no one found them."

"And would explain why she's oblivious to... Pretty much everything." Alex pressed her lips, her eyes staring at nowhere as she seemed to be gathering memories from the previous day. It was heartwarming to watch Kelly and Alex in a conversation, pretty much complementing each other's sentences in perfect sync. 

"Whatever her father believes is going on, he made her believe in it too." Kara concluded. Kelly and Alex nodded and they just sat there in silence for the minutes that followed, Kara trying to digest the situation she was in, that seemed to only get worse the more she knew about it, Alex and Kelly keeping her company, making sure she knew they were there for her. 

The doorbell rang, followed by mumbles coming from the baby monitor that had been placed in the coffee table between them. After exchanging a look to decide which one was doing which, Kelly went to the door while Alex ran upstairs to get her baby before she got too impatient and tried to leave her crib by herself, something that she had tried once before and almost didn't go well. Kara didn't have to ask to know that both Eliza and Jeremiah were at the cake shop, Jeremiah usually landed a helping hand during the weeks that followed the Mating, since those were the ones where they had the higher demand of the year. 

Some people just thought _If this is my soulmate, why wait?_ and got married shortly after being mated, and that meant an overload of huge orders for wedding parties. Kara thought it was crazy at first, but she was surprised when she saw the statistics of how many people actually rushed into marriage with their mates. But it wasn't like it would ever go wrong anyways. 

"Hey." Lucy greeted her with a small smile as she followed Kelly into the living room, holding a green folder with the Center's logo in the middle. Kara waited for the sarcastic comment or the tease that usually followed Lucy's interactions with her, but, when nothing else was said, she knew that she should probably expect the worst from whatever news Lucy had brought with her.

"What have you got?" 

"More than I expected." Lucy said as she sat down, putting the folder over the table in front of her as she opened it, taking off the many papers that were inside, "It took me a lot of talking though, but they sent me his file, together with police reports."

"That's him." Kara pointed at a picture of him in one of the pages, it was definitely a business photo, he was wearing a suit with a dark blue tie, smiling in front of a white background. He didn't have the beard from the drawing Kara had seen, but she recognized him immediately for his face structure, the jaw and nose had the very same traces, but especially the eyes... There was something about them that just stuck in her mind. 

"His name is Lionel Luthor." Lucy told them, Kelly and Kara leaning towards the papers on the table "He used to be the owner of a five-star hotel franchise, there's one of his buildings in at least every country in Europe. He inherited those from his father, so he comes from a very wealthy family. He was married to Lillian Luthor and had two children, Lena and Alexander."

Lucy pointed to what looked like an old newspaper page, the quality was bad due to the age and the printing, but on the top of it there was a family picture, Lionel and Lillian were side by side, their son standing between them while he held his little sister on his arms. They were all nicely dressed, maybe the picture had been taken at a party. Bellow it, the huge letters in bold saying "The Luthor Tragedy" were followed by the report of what happened, but Kara could barely read it.

"There was a car accident after a party with associates. Lena stayed home with a nanny while the rest of her family attended. I couldn't find many details on what exactly caused their car to crash, but people speculate that Lionel maybe had too much to drink at the party. His wife died immediately, his son really struggled in the hospital, but made it."

"His son survived? And he just left him behind?"

"Yes. Lionel wasn't in the car when the paramedics arrived, so he probably didn't get hurt. He ran home, took Lena and disappeared. Not before stabbing the nanny though. Eleven times."

"Oh my god."

"He was wanted in the whole country, his face plastered in every newspaper but there was no sign of him, no one ever saw him again. The police and the Center were looking for him, but he left no trace. Eventually, the case was closed."

"But now we have the name of a place. We have something to follow." Kara was feeling hopeful for the first time since she woke up that day. 

"I talked to the gatherer from the Center where Lionel was supposed to be admitted to, he is still the same one that was ahead of his case seventeen years ago. I know you too well Kara, to be sure you wouldn't want to just wait here until they sort things out, so I asked if we could work together on this lead."

"Really?" Kara's eyes sparkled with grateful tears and Lucy rolled her eyes but had an affectionate smile on her face.

"Yeah. Thing is, we need to go to Ireland. Like... Right now."

"Right now?" Both Kara and Kelly exclaimed with their eyes widened. 

"Yeah. We don't know what Lionel's next step will be. He knew that one day Lena would be mated, we don't know if he prepared for that, if he had somewhere else to hide. We can't risk it."

"Lucy... I can't ask you to just... Drop everything and go to Ireland."

"You didn't ask. If you did, I would've said no." Lucy teased with a small smile on her lips and Kara laughed slightly, "Kara, I don't know a single person who deserves to be with their soulmate more than you. Really, I, for example, used to think that it was bullshit to have someone thrown at you at some point in your life with no choice. But... When it happened to me... It was an instant change of opinion."

"Yeah, I noticed." Kara smirked.

"But you, Kara, you believed in it from the start. And I have watched you be disappointed two times, I won't have it a third."

"Thank you, Lucy. It means the world to me." Kara's chest felt warm with her friend's support. Lucy wasn't the first person she met that didn't believe in soulmates at first. There were people all around the world that manifested their doubts and disbelief towards the Mating, but they always changed their mind as soon as they met their soulmate. 

"What did I miss?" Alex appeared in the living room holding her daughter, that smelled like baby perfume and had her hair wet from her morning bath. She reacted to Lucy's presence there, yelling something that could be her name, though it didn't really sound like a word, she looked like she was happy to see her there. Lucy responded with an awkward smile, it was funny to see her around children, she never really knew what to do. 

"Uh... We're going to Ireland."

Alex laughed at her sister, but when everyone just stared at her with serious faces, she stopped herself and stood there in silence for a few seconds.

"I need to call mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for every single comment on the last chapter, they made me the happiest girl, seriously, I'm really glad to see you guys liked the idea and are on this wild ride with me now  
> and sorry for how long it took to update, my professors are making sure I have no free time lately  
> I hope I was able to clear things a little bit with this one


	4. Lena

"Lena?" Alex's voice called her attention and she turned her head away from the name on the door. Alex didn't say anything else, but her worried eyes followed Lena as she entered the bedroom, standing still in the middle of it, unsure of what to do. Alex pointed to the bed with her head and Lena decided to climb on it, leaning on the headboard and crossing her legs while she watched Alex sitting down in front of her. 

They just looked at each other for a while, both of them surely had many questions, but Lena's number was hay higher at that point. She mostly had been just answering questions since that day started, and she was the one inside of someone else's body after all. In the middle of all the mess that was going on in Lena's head, that was spiraling between the fact that her father was delusional and potentially dangerous and that she spent her whole life exiled from the world (that evolved a lot and she barely recognized the things around her) she was able to stick to one line of thought: The person who she switched bodies with. Her soulmate. Maybe she should start there. 

"Kara?" Lena asked, pointing at herself. That was the name on the bedroom's door so it was pretty obvious that Kara was the actual owner of that body... And Lena's perfect match. 

Of course, that was freaking her out. Even though Kelly focused more on what happens when you lose your soulmate rather than what happens while you still have them during her explanation, it didn't take much for Lena to guess. They were supposed to be a couple, yet Lena had never even considered having someone like that in her life, she always believed that she and her father were the last humane humans on earth and the closest she would get to dating and marriage was reading about it in books. 

She didn't even know Kara. Except for the way she looked and that blue was probably her favorite color since Lena could see it everywhere inside her bedroom. Apart from that, she was a complete stranger while simultaneously she had her life directly connected to Lena's. 

Alex nodded carefully, pulling the thing they had been using to communicate out of her pocket, the cellphone, Alex had told her earlier. Lena expected Alex to type something, but she offered the phone to Lena instead, waiting for her to say whatever she needed to. Lena took a deep breath, staring at those ridiculously small buttons with even smaller letters. Before she started, Alex face-palmed herself out of nowhere and that startled Lena a little bit, making her bolt in place. She stared at Alex with furrowed eyebrows while she watched her take the phone back and speak to it. 

_"I forgot to tell you, but you can actually speak and it will translate."_ The voice said after Alex and Lena nodded with relief, happy to know that she wouldn't need to struggle to write her sentences anymore. Alex pointed to the small microphone on the screen and Lena pressed it before speaking. 

"What is Kara like?" It took a few seconds, but eventually, the robotic voice spoke after her in English. Alex gave Lena a small smile. 

_"Kara is amazing. She is persistent, honest, generous."_ , Alex said all of that smiling and was still smiling as the phone translated everything. That was new for Lena, seeing someone so genuinely happy while talking about someone else. When her father talked about her mother and brother, all she could see in his eyes were sorrow, as if there were no happy memories. Meanwhile, every word that Alex used to describe her sister was solid, with deeper meaning, as if each of them brought a lot of memories. 

"What does she do?" Lena asked, trying to gather more about Kara, so she would become more of a person and less of a concept in her mind. Lena was wondering how things were going for Kara inside her body. Lena's father probably blacked out soulmates together with everything else about the real world, so she had no idea of how he would react. She also had no idea of what Kara was thinking.

_"She's a reporter at CatCo."_ Lena had no idea of what a CatCo was and her face made it very clear. Alex quickly specified as she pulled something from the night table, bellow the book Lena had noticed earlier. It was bigger than a book though, but thinner, _"A magazine."_

Lena studied the cover, featured a picture of a very colorful crowd of happy people with huge letters in the middle of it, as well as smaller texts on its sides. Lena identified Kara's name written on the bottom of the page, as well as what was probably her last name. Danvers. 

Lena wondered what she would've become if she had been able to have a normal life. She usually avoided thinking much about things that she couldn't do so she wouldn't make her already hard life even harder. But, while she was there, sitting on that very comfortable bed in the middle of a bedroom filled with small fragments of someone's whole life and personality, she couldn't help but wonder. The only thing she did that wasn't for survival, was art, and she loved it. It kept her sane and it felt so natural, like a part of herself. Would she still like it if she had the opportunity to choose something else?

She felt Alex's stare on her while she was still looking down at the magazine without actually seeing it. She lifted her head, looking at the pictures on the wall across from her. Kara wasn't in all of them but, in every single one she was, she was smiling just like everyone else around her. Lena could tell she was a good person but that didn't make her any less scared. The insecurity that had always been her shadow was telling her that, somehow, Kara hated her already. For involving her in such a mess. 

"Hey." Kelly entered the room after three soft knocks on the door. Both Alex and Lena looked at her as she told them something. Lena, of course, didn't pick up a single word but she could tell that Kelly was frustrated about something. She sighed heavily before she sat down on the other side of the bed, looking at Lena with the same level of caution she did from the beginning. She took her own phone from her pocket and typed, _"Can you tell me more about where you and your father live?"_

Lena thought about that for a moment, she knew every bit of that campsite and could draw it with details on a piece of paper if needed, including every crack on the ceilings and every dusty painting on the walls. But all of that wouldn't really help Kelly actually know where she lived.

Except for one thing. The sign.

"Camp Lockwood." Lena said and waited for the robotic voice to say after her. Kelly thanked her with a small smile, and Lena asked herself why Kelly wanted to know that. Was she planning on going after Lena? Was that really necessary since they lived in different countries? As soon as her father knew that the world was actually safe he would agree to go back to town and comply with the necessary measures. 

Right?

_"Lena, I need you to listen to me very carefully. When you go back to your body, you'll need to just play along with your father, because he will resist everything that goes against what his mind is making him believe until his last breath."_ Kelly had a soothing voice while she spoke, but the robotic lady's tone scared Lena anyways. _"We're going after you, as soon as we can find you. It will be alright."_

So she was supposed to be... Actually afraid of her father? 

She wouldn't doubt Kelly, who definitely knew what she was talking about since she worked with understanding split's minds. But still, for Lena, it was hard to believe that her father would do anything against her of all people. He had always been a rock of a man, serious expression, tired green eyes, but he crackled a smile whenever he saw Lena succeed and squeezed her shoulder whenever he was proud of her. When she was around nine years old and insisted in helping him carry the wood logs inside and got her hands full of splinters, her father caressed her head while he took the splinters off as gentle as he could, that didn't stop her from crying her eyes out, but he could've scolded her since she was the one who insisted in helping even after he said she didn't have to. Yet he didn't. The same way he didn't yell at her on all of the times where she got herself into trouble for completely unnecessary reasons. 

She knew he loved her. And she loved him too. She couldn't just... Leave him. And if she did, where would she even go? 

"What is gonna happen to him when you find us?" She asked, her heart pounding against her chest, already regretting giving away the name of the camp. 

_"He's going to the center."_ Kelly carefully said. She told Lena that the Center was the place where all of the splits went to, regardless of their kind. The way Kelly spoke about it, sounded like a hospital... A hospital you can never leave. 

"And what about me?"

_"You can stay with us. We will help you adapt every step of the way."_ Kelly gave her a reassuring smile as the audio was being played, but Lena's heart and mind weren't convinced yet. 

"I don't want him to be arrested." Lena pressed her lips, feeling her eyes burn. 

_"He wont. the center will take good care of him and make sure he is comfortable and healthy. you can still see him there."_

"In Ireland?" Lena lifted an eyebrow. If she was actually going to stay with them, how could she possibly keep in touch with her father and make sure he was okay? 

_"We can figure something out."_ Kelly promised. Lena still wasn't feeling good about any of that. 

Yet, she nodded. Against her will, but nodded. And Kelly nodded back with a sad look in her eyes. 

The rest of the afternoon went slowly, with Lena sat on the bed hugging not-her legs while she drowned on her own thoughts. She was left alone at some point and was glad to finally be given space, she was used to spending most of her day alone in the woods, sometimes drawing in her cabin, fishing at the lake, laying on the grass while reading a book. It was crazy to think about how things just drastically changed out of nowhere. After a completely normal hunting day with her father, her life suddenly was turned upside down. How could she possibly leave her father behind to live a normal life? A "normal" life, with those people that she barely knew miles away from the only family she still had.

She only noticed it was dark outside when the door was opened and Alex poked her head inside. Lena watched as she walked closer and sat on the bed again.

_"You should lie down, so when the switch happens you're in a comfortable position."_ The voice in her phone said, she had probably written that before going inside the room. Lena nodded and Alex got up to give her space. She pressed her lips, clearly wanting to say something else but not sure if she should. She gave in eventually, holding the phone close to her mouth while she spoke. 

_"I can't possibly know what is going on through your head right now but let me just tell you this: Your father is not everything you have. You have us too now."_

Alex handed her the phone and Lena thought about it for a moment before picking it up. She had many doubts about... Everything, but, as she looked into Alex's brown eyes, she just knew that Alex meant what she said. So she decided to just be honest. 

"But I am everything he has." Her voice broke between the last two words and Alex sighed, giving Lena an understanding look. 

_"And he will still have you. But you can't just not live to keep him on his fantasy. It's not fair to you. I know we don't know each other, but you are my sister's soulmate. She's awesome, so you must be awesome too. And you deserve better than this."_

She was going to give Lena the phone back but she denied with her head, not having anything else to say. 

_"I'll see you soon."_ Alex translated one last time and smiled at Lena before she left the room. And Lena was left with an unfamiliar heartwarming feeling on her chest, that made her smile too as she rested her head on the pillow. While laying there, Lena thought about her words. As much as she loved her father... No, because she loved her father, the right thing to do was breaking his fantasy and getting him help. 

And when she opened her eyes and found herself back in her own bedroom, she spent long minutes staring at the wooden ceiling, trying to process everything she had witnessed on the last twenty-four hours and digesting the fact that her whole life had been a lie and that during all of the nights when she was younger and couldn't sleep because she was scared of someone finding them in the woods, she should actually be hoping that someone _did._

She sat on the bed, that now felt like a rock after so many hours of sitting on an actual comfortable bed. She lifted her arms and sighing in relief when she recognized her own hands. She couldn't even begin to describe how weird the feeling of being inside someone else's body was. But, that relief didn't last long when she noticed the barred window by her side and the mirror missing on the wall. She got up, walking slowly towards the door while the wooden floor creaked bellow her feet. She tried to open it, but it was either locked or barred from the other side. 

Not good. 

"Father?" She called, trying again to turn the knob even though she knew it was useless. She stopped when she heard heavy footsteps coming from the outside, followed by her father's rough voice.

"Lena? Are you... You again?" 

Lena's heart skipped a beat. 

"Yes." She stuttered, watching as her father opened the door from the outside. He stared at her for a moment and before she could even react, he was wrapping her into his arms, hugging her tight, something that he had never done before. Lena was stunned by that, blinking multiple times still unsure if that was actually happening, but it was. She wasn't really sure of what to do, she had never been hugged before, not that she remembered anyway, so she just stood there, letting him hold her against his chest, "Father?"

"I was so scared, Lena." He told her, his voice trembling in an unfamiliar way, "Do you remember anything?"  
"I..." She did remember, every single detail of Kara Danver's reality, but she could tell that was not what her father was referring to. 

"You felt dizzy, and I tried to catch you before you fell, but then you started to attack me. You even hurt me with the fork."

"Wait, what?" 

"Look." He let go of her to show her his arm, the four little holes of the fork that pierced his skin were red and swollen, "I tried to stop you, but you kept shouting and resisting. Your eyes... Were just like your mother's when she drove against the wall on purpose. I thought... I would lose you too."

He hugged Lena again but this time she barely noticed, she seemed frozen and everything else around her disappeared. There was no way she could've imagined it all, right? She couldn't have made up that bedroom, so full of details and small pieces of someone's personality in all the elements present. The amicable people on the street, that cute little baby that melted Lena's heart at first sight, the taste of hot chocolate, the robotic lady that spoke Irish. Alex, Kelly... And Kara. They were real.

They had to be. 

"But... It was real..." She muttered, more to herself than to her father.

"What did you see?" He looked at her with worry on his eyes. She sighed, remembering Kelly's words when she told Lena she should play along with whatever her father said, but was Kelly even real in the end? 

As devastating as it could be, Lena hallucinating it all made way more sense than her whole life not making sense did. 

So she just told him, everything from the moment she fell off the bed in the morning to the moment where she was laying on it once again at night. He smiled sadly when she told him the story about soulmates, squeezing Lena's shoulder to comfort her. Same pitiful eyes that she saw staring at her when she realized that the rabbit her father had brought home for dinner one night was Lena's only friend on that campsite. 

"It seems like you saw what you wished was true." He told her tenderly, "It brings me peace. Knowing that if you saw something good, Lillian probably saw something good too before she died."

Lillian. He had never said her mother's name before. Not even once. The very few occasions she was mentioned, it was always as _your mother_ , and nothing else.

"What happened?" She asked him, scared of the answer. 

"I was able to knock you out and put you in your room, I didn't know if you would hurt yourself with the mirror or with the glass on the window so I just-" His sentence broke with a sob that he was visibly desperate trying to keep inside. Lena was just... Shocked. What her father had experienced changed him abruptly, she had never seen him in such a vulnerable place, "Just, please, you're all I have. Don't leave me too."

"I'm... I'm sorry." Her eyes were blurry with tears. 

It was clear now. How everything that she saw there, a happy family, a perfect world, it was all she ever wanted. It was too good to be true. 

"It's not your fault. Everything is fine now."

"But how am I still me?" She asked, scared. She never knew if what happened to the people of the world was some kind of disease spread in some mysterious way or if it was just random. She used to think both her father and her were immune. 

Until now. 

"Maybe because I was able to contain you before you took your own life. I couldn't do it with your mother." Made sense. Maybe everyone just had one trigger of insanity that, if contained, they had the chance of going back to be themselves.

Or it would just keep happening until she died. 

"And what if it happens again?"

"Lena, my daughter..." He held her face between his hands, "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe. I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned from the sea of college assignments and the land of writer's block  
> hope you're all safe out there


	5. Kara

Kara was punching her jeans when she heard her bedroom's door opening behind her.

She had no idea of how long they would spend in Ireland so she pretty much grabbed everything she could find on her wardrobe that was fit for cold weather, but her suitcase's zipper just didn't want to close. She sighed, punching the pants one more time before just giving up on it, throwing it back inside the open drawer.

"Whoa." Alex said as she approached her sister, "Come on, don't fight the suitcase. The suitcase is your friend."

Kara, as stressed and anxious she was at that moment, couldn't help but smile, snorting as she watched her sister forcing the suitcase down with her weight, helping Kara pull the zipper through the end and finally close it.

"Thank you."

"Hey, we are going to find her. Look at how much we already know in such a short period of time."

"I know. I just... My head is all over the place right now and the last thing I need is something else being hard." Kara vented, breathing out heavily as she tried to relieve the pressure inside her. There was so much to think about, not just finding Lena, but everything that would happen after Kara finally found her. She was really trying to clear her mind and establish one step at a time, but it was easier said than done. She wanted to be strong to actually help Lena with everything she needed as soon as she got inserted back into the real world, a world that was mostly unknown for her, but Kara was afraid she wouldn't have the time to build that strength up.

"Okay." Alex held her sister's shoulders, staring at her with worried eyes while Kara pressed her lips, her blue eyes glimmering with tears as she tried to remain strong. Alex had never seen Kara like that, she was usually the one who got overwhelmed and Kara was always there to support her and make sure Alex would have what it took to go through her problems. So, Alex wanted to do the same, "I'm going with you."

"Alex..."

"I want to be there for you, Kara. Just like you were there for me during the hardest moment of my life. When you risked your job, the job you worked your ass off to be promoted, just to run to the hospital to make sure I was alright." Alex reminded her, her lips slightly trembled as she revisited those memories. When she became a doctor, she knew that, eventually, the day where she would grow so attached to a patient and end up losing them would come. She grieved as if they were her own family and, as much as she tried to keep it together, she ended up collapsing one afternoon, falling on her knees inside the room where her patient used to be while she cried harder than she ever did before. She felt numb, useless, unworthy of her doctor's title. One of her coworkers called Kara and she left everything behind to run up there and hold Alex, ignoring all the angry texts from her boss who had been waiting for Kara's latest piece for two days already. Kara had to spend the whole night up to finish her work and her boss still threatened to fire her, but she didn't regret being there for her sister, not even for a split second, "The only time I ever did something even remotely like that for you was when you were like, nine, and forgot your lines on that play? Still remember that?"

Kara nodded with a small smile on her face, her mind taking her back to that day where she was playing Alice in "Alice in the Wonderland" and got stage fright. She spent a few seconds just staring at the audience, unable to say anything while all of them stared back at her, some of them laughing slightly as they watched Kara frozen, but Alex, who was sitting there on the front row with their parents, had helped Kara practice during the last month and knew all her lines, so she silently mouthed them to her and Kara was able to go through the whole thing. It wasn't great, she didn't get a big part again in any play ever again, she actually gave up theater, but she was able to do that one play. All thanks to her sister, who had her back since day one of becoming a Danvers.

"But what about your work?" Kara asked, even though she actually wanted Alex to go, "And Kelly and Cassie?"

"They owe me some days off at the hospital and I'm sure Kelly won't mind. Cassie, on the other hand, may throw a tantrum with her favorite mom spending time apart from her, but we can deal with that." Alex had a smirk on her face and Kara smiled too.

"Alright. You should go pack then."

"I'm sure you packed enough for both of us." Alex laughed, but Kara crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Alright, alright. Meet you downstairs."

She left to her own bedroom and Kara carried her suitcase to the living room, grateful for having bought one with wheels, ignoring everyone who said she would never get to use it a couple of years ago. Lucy was talking to Eliza in the kitchen, who probably sneaked out of the cake shop after Alex called her and filled her in on the situation.

It reminded Kara of her early teenage years when Eliza would always pull one of her friends aside and questioned them about the details of their plan for the day. Alex hated when Eliza did that to her though, it was around the time where she had her rebellious phase and everything was enough pretext for a fight, but Kara never really minded, she actually found it funny back then and now even more, since she was a grown woman already.

"Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you woke up." Eliza opened her arms as soon as she put her eyes on Kara, who gladly walked closer so she could be hugged, "Jess called me and said that there was already a line outside and it wasn't even nine in the morning yet."

"It's alright, mom." Kara told her as she pulled out of the hug. She knew how full the shop could get, "Don't worry."

"Are you okay?

That question was harder to answer than it should be, so Kara opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say. Eliza pressed her lips and sighed, squeezing her daughter's shoulder in an understanding way.

"Oh, good, no one left to Ireland without saying goodbye to me." Jeremiah said as he entered the kitchen through the side door that took to the backyard. He was still holding his phone, so Kara guessed he was probably in some work call. With their own shop to run and the other four small businesses that Jeremiah was also an accountant to, he always had plenty of work to do.

"By the way, are we good to go?" Lucy asked, checking the watch on her wrist, Kara didn't even ask her about the flight schedule, she actually hadn't even thought of that until that very second, but she imagined that Lucy probably got that covered too.

"Now we are!" Alex exclaimed as she ran down the stairs while carrying a suitcase that was probably half the size of the one Kara had, followed by her wife who had their daughter on her arms.

"You're going too?" Lucy asked with furrowed eyebrows as Alex approached them. Eliza was staring at her, looking two times as worried now that both of her daughters were off to another continent so suddenly. Jeremiah seemed to have sensed that, since he pulled Eliza closer and hugged her by the side, kissing her forehead gently. And seeing that small piece of affection between those two was enough for Kara to be absolutely sure that whatever she was about to face out there it would be worth it if, in the end, she would have that in her life too.

"Of course. I don't trust you watching my little sister." She teased and Lucy rolled her eyes but had a slight smile on her face. The two of them became very good friends really quickly, even though people were mostly not sure if they were just joking or actually fighting sometimes.

The next few minutes were filled by their farewells while Eliza repeatedly asked them to call and text as they walked to the front door, she also handed Kara a paper bag with a few of Kara's favorite pastries from the shop so she could have something to eat on the plane, and Kara couldn't be more grateful since she eating didn't even cross her mind on that day. They all hugged in front of the opened door, Lucy got a head start, carrying the baggage to her car while the rest of them finished saying goodbye to each other. Jeremiah kissed both of his daughters on the head, the same way he used to do when they were little and he was dropping them off at their schools, followed by the known look on his face that said _Be careful_. Cassie started to cry when she realized that they were actually about to leave and, as much as she would never admit, Alex teared up too, probably because that was going to be the first time she would actually spend days apart from her daughter since she was born.

When they were finally on the car and driving away from the Danver's home, Kara could hear Alex and Lucy bickering about who was going to get the window seat as Alex was buying their plane tickets on her phone. She heard them, but without actually listening, staring at the empty seat by her side and trying to accept the fact that, when they came back home, there would be someone sitting by Kara's side on the back of that car. She breathed out, forcing herself to look out the window for the rest of the trip to the airport otherwise she was at risk of losing her mind.

The airport was extremely full, it was the day after the Mating so a lot of people wanted to travel to meet their soulmates, not only overseas but to other cities and states. Statistically, being mated to someone who lives close to you is almost the least common scenario, losing only to being mated to people on other continents. Besides that, there was the usual traffic that happened at the beginning of every year, with people flying back to their homes after spending the new years with their families or friends or simply traveling on their vacations.

It was hard to walk inside, but gladly they already had their tickets bought and only had to wait for the time of their flight to come. When it finally did, Alex had won the right to sit by the window after winning two out of three rounds of rock, paper, scissors against Lucy. A nine-hour trip is already expected to feel long, especially due to the fact that Kara had never traveled that far in her life. Also, her stomach was looping on her insides with anxiety, so the first hour felt like three. She tried to relax, taking off her glasses and closing her eyes while she tried not to listen to her sister telling Lucy some gross story that happened at the hospital.

That didn't work. Maybe keeping her mind busy would work better, so she took the dust off her Duolingo app, that she had downloaded when she wanted to learn french on her own. Spoiler alert: She didn't, and the app stopped sending her notifications about two years ago. She was glad to see that they offered beginner Irish lessons for free, so she put her earphones on and started listening. The process of learning was complicated, she ended up forgetting words as soon as she learned new ones.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Alex asked her in a low tone. She had been sleeping for a while until then, just like most of the other passengers on the plane.

"I'm trying to learn Irish."

"And how is that going for you?" Alex had a smirk on her face and Kara rolled her eyes as she put her phone down, ready to take a break from studying.

"Well... I learned how to say hello."

"How do you say it?"

"Hi."

Alex giggled and so did Kara, covering her mouth so she wouldn't make any loud noises. Alex's power to lighten the mood was too strong to fight against.

"You don't really need to learn Irish, you know that, right? It will be easier if she learns English, considering she will come back with us." Alex told her and Kara sighed. She feared that maybe Lena wouldn't want to go back with them, that she would rather stay with her brother, who was actually her family. She wouldn't blame her though, Lena had yet a life to live, and moving to another country with a bunch of strangers was a lot.

But still, Kara hoped she would come.

"I know. But I want to. At least a little. It's the only thing I know about her, other than that she probably likes drawing. But I'm very bad at that so... Irish it is."

"You're something else, Kara." Alex snorted and stared at her sister lovingly for a moment, before relaxing back on her seat, "Try to rest a little, okay? We'll hardly have time for that when we get there."

"I'll try."

By the time the pilot's voice sounded through the speakers as he announced they were preparing for landing, Kara didn't get even a second of rest but she did learn a few more words in Irish, probably not enough for basic dialog, but more than just _hello_ at least. She leaned over her sister, waking her up abruptly as she tried to get a peek of the view through the small window. Alex called her something she chose to ignore and rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake herself up. Kara couldn't see much, mostly mountains covered in snow and the lights of the city below them.

There was no turning back now.

Kara breathed out, her stomach flipping again just like it was when she entered the plane. Alex squeezed her shoulder in a comforting way, and that was enough for Kara to be reminded that she was not alone. She walked behind Lucy and Alex to the airport, standing close to them as they waited for their baggage to show up. She tried not to look towards the couples that were meeting there, people hugging tightly and kissing passionately, but she couldn't help herself, imagining how easier it would have been if her first meeting with her soulmate could be like that, with Lena holding a piece of paper with Kara's name while she waited for Kara's flight to land.

Her mind was brought back to the bitter reality when Alex put her suitcase in front of her. They walked towards the gates while Lucy talked to someone on the phone, who was probably telling her the directions she should follow so they could reach the meeting point, just outside one of the gates. There was a car waiting for them, white with the Center's symbol, just like it was in National City and probably the rest of the world too. After Lucy showed the driver her badge, Kara came to the uncomfortable realization that the Center was going to be involved in the whole thing, the whole time, and she would have to be fine with it, shoving aside all the background history she had with the place.

The trip to the Center itself didn't take more than ten minutes, and the man they were supposed to meet was waiting for them at the reception, Kara knew it was him the moment she landed her eyes on him, who wore the gatherer's well known black uniform, which immediately jumped out from everyone else's white clothes. They always dressed like they were ready for a funeral, which actually suited their purpose.

"Lucy Lane?" He asked when the three of them approached him. They left their stuff on the car, that was actually lent to them by the Center while they stayed there.

"That's me." Lucy told him as she offered her hand for a formal handshake, "And these are Kara and Alex Danvers."

"John Jones. A pleasure." He nodded as he shook hands with the two of them as well, Kara noticing immediately how his accent sounded exactly the same as Lena's father did, "If you could follow me to my office, please."  
They walked behind him towards an elevator, Kara studying every inch of her surroundings as she walked, but all of the Centers followed pretty much the same structural pattern, so there was nothing actually new to look at in there. The office was on the third floor, fourth door to the right. There weren't enough seats to all of them in there, but Alex automatically stood behind one of the chairs with her arms crossed, so Kara sat down there while Lucy took the seat by her side.

"So, sir, you're a local, does Camp Lockwood ring a bell?" Lucy started as John sat behind his desk.

"No. Not really. Why?"

"That's the name Lena gave us before switching back. We don't know if they found the place by accident or if Lionel had been there before."

"I could dig in to see if we have any records of that. I tried to reach his son though, several times since the two of us talked on the phone." He sighed, "But he's always too busy to talk to me."

"Do you think he doesn't want to?" Lucy asked with a furrowed eyebrow.

"Well, he was never very helpful during our investigation seventeen years ago. His father left him to die and ran away with his little sister so... He didn't want anything to do with him. And that didn't change now."

"I could help." Kara offered in a whisper.

"And how exactly would you help?" John asked in complete disbelief as if it was impossible for Kara to do anything useful. She tried not to let that bother her.

"I'm a reporter for a pretty huge magazine in the US. And I'm very curious to know when Luthor Hotels is going to reach the American continent." She said firmly but quickly explained when the three people inside the room stared at her with confused faces as if they didn't understand a single word she said, "I mean, that's what I'm going to say to him. To convince him to talk to me."

And with Kara's explanation, came the clarity to their faces, with synchronized nods as they thought about what she had suggested.

"That's clever, actually." John admitted, "Get to it, while I go over Lionel's records again, maybe I'll find something about this camp."

Kara then nodded, taking a deep breath while John handed her a card that said _Alexander Luthor- Head of Luthor Hotels_ with a phone number on the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are about to get a lot crazier from here  
> hope y'all enjoyed it, stay safe!


	6. Kara

Kara was not expecting the hotel to be the highest building on that street. 

She looked back at Lucy and Alex inside the car behind her one last time before she walked towards the glass double doors that led to the main hall. The interiors were just... Outstanding, it didn't take Kara two seconds to be absolutely sure she would never have the money to stay in a place like that. Multiple art pieces on the walls, a very detailed and impressively clean carpet on the floor, as well as a few statues placed on the corners. 

Only then it hit Kara how different hers and Lena's reality would've been even if she had lived a normal life alongside her family. 

She walked closer to the reception, her hands sweating and her heart pounding. The woman behind the counter warmly smiled at Kara, giving her an apologetic look as she showed her she was currently on the phone with someone. Kara nodded, smiling back to make sure she knew that it wouldn't bother Kara having to wait for a while. 

As she heard her talking, she tried to pick up anything from the conversation but, whatever it was, it was beyond the basic words that Kara had learned while on the plane. When the receptionist ended the call, she probably said something like _how can I help you?_ but Kara wouldn't really know. 

"I'm... I'm here to see Alexander Luthor?" It wasn't really a question, but it sounded like one since Kara wasn't sure if the receptionist would be able to understand her. 

"Oh, the reporter, Kara Danvers?" She nodded while checking something on the screen in front of her. 

"That's me." 

"He is waiting for you. I have cleared your access, just press thirty in the elevator and you will be there." She slowly explained, to make sure Kara would understand every word.

"Thank you." Kara smiled at her one last time before following her directions. She was still impressed by how easy it had been for her to arrange that meeting with him, she was afraid that an interview wouldn't appeal to his interests or that she would have to wait a week or so to fit in his schedule, but his secretary seemed pretty excited about the "travel reporter from CatCo Worldwide Media that wanted to feature Luthor Hotels in her piece about Ireland", telling Kara she could show up on the next day if she wanted to.

When the elevator doors opened, she stood inside in awe by the office in front of her. It had the perfect balance between the warm colors and the dark woods, the amount of natural light coming from the windows pairing with a breathtaking view of the city was truly the cherry on top of it all. 

"Miss Danvers?" The rough voice called her attention and she quickly jumped out of the elevator, embarrassed already for staying so long inside it. She gulped when her eyes met Alexander's, who walked towards her with his steps echoing across the whole office. He did have a few similarities to Lena in his appearance, but they weren't that much alike, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, no it's alright. I was just impressed by your view." She said while they shook hands.

"Thank you. Sometimes I get caught in the beauty of it all too." He smiled, "Please, have a seat. Can I offer you anything?" He pointed to a couple of couches on their right, the office was big enough to fit an entire living room inside it, as well as an impressive collection of books displayed on multiple bookshelves that went from the floor to the ceiling.

"No, no. Thank you." Kara tried her best to smile back at him, but she felt too miserable for lying to be able to do it properly. She was surprised to see that his intimidating-rich-businessman posture was nothing like his actual attitude

"I was surprised when my assistant told me you called. With the timing, I mean. I have been considering extending our hotels to America for a while now."

"Uh... Actually, Mr. Luthor-"

"Just call me Lex." He said warmly, becoming at every passing second more and more different from what Kara was expecting him to be, considering everything he went through in his life. He had suffered from the trauma from the accident, his mother's loss, his father's abandonment, and murder under his last name. His family, the Luthors, were already known across the whole country before everything that happened, and Kara was pretty sure they became even more known after.

And maybe that was the reason why he had been so eager to do that interview. Because it was going to be about his business, his work, and not about his family. 

Well, at least that was what he thought. 

"Lex. Actually, I'm not here to interview you. I'm here to ask for your help." She confessed, biting her underlip as she looked at him with apprehension in her blue eyes. 

"What?" His tone changed abruptly and his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, "I told that moron to check if you were actually a reporter before-" 

"I _am_ a reporter." Kara quickly clarified, afraid to make someone who had nothing to do with it lose their job, "But I'm also your sister's soulmate."

"My sister's soulmate?" He started laughing as if Kara told him a joke that wasn't actually funny, but ridiculous enough to make him laugh. There it was, the attitude Kara was actually expecting from him.

"You have received calls from the Center recently, haven't you?" Kara asked and his laugh faded instantly. He was probably about to tell her that it was impossible, that his sister was dead, but Kara showing up there and the multiple calls from the Center just a day before couldn't be a coincidence, "They're calling you because we have a lead on where your father and sister are. I know you probably don't want anything to do with him but I need to find her. You're the only one that can help me."

"I can't believe that he is still alive," Lex said, his eyes staring at nowhere as he seemed to be absorbing Kara's words. Then he looked at her again with irritated dark eyes, "Aren't splits supposed to have an expiration date or something?"

"Well... Not reds." 

"Of course." He laughed again, this time more tiredly, "And when you exchanged bodies with my sister you couldn't just, you know, _see_ where they were?"

"No. I was... I was locked inside a room the entire time. But-" 

"Look, I don't think I can help you. Because, as you probably imagine, my father didn't care to let me know where he would be off to before he left me to die inside that car." He got up from his seat, kind of hinting that he wanted Kara to get up as well, "So, if there isn't anything else, please leave because I have a lot to do."

"Wait just- Please." Kara got up too, but she wasn't willing to give up just yet, "Camp Lockwood. Does it mean anything to you?"

Lex sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he studied Kara's face for a few seconds in silence, trying to decipher her as much as she was trying to decipher him. 

"Let's say that maybe I know a guy who knows where it is. But the thing is: I am selfish. I was never good at sharing and I wasn't happy at all when my parents told me they were having another kid. I mean, I was twelve already, mom was around her forties and, out of nowhere, they decided to have a baby. I hated her. I even thought about dropping her on purpose when she was a newborn." He laughed again while Kara just stared at him in horror. It didn't make sense to her that amount of hatred from a sibling towards the other, especially since she saw her sister as her whole world pretty much since she met her, "So before I tell you anything, I just want to make sure that I'll be able to continue not sharing my things. You know what I mean?" 

"Yes." She responded with gritted teeth, "But how do I even-"

"Just convince her to sign some papers." He cut her off, "You seem like a fairly persuasive person to me. I'll mail them to you."

"Right. And what if I am not able to convince her?"

"Not a problem. There are many ways I can still live my life unbothered. The thing is, the way that I am proposing to you right now is the only one that the three of us can benefit on."

"Are you- Are you threatening me?"

"What? No. Not you. Her. Or maybe you. It depends on what is most convenient at the time. But it doesn't really matter, does it?" It really didn't. If he did anything to either Lena or Kara, the other would suffer from his acts, one way or another, "So, deal?"

"Yes. Just tell me who I need to talk to."

Lex smiled with satisfaction as he walked to his desk, pulling a small piece of paper and a very expensive-looking pen. 

"Ben Lockwood, English professor in a very mediocre university. He is the son of the camp owner, I've met him once or twice when my father took me to that dump on our vacations. The last time I heard from him, he lived on this address." He finished writing it down and handed it to Kara, who took it as fast as she could so she wouldn't have to spend a single extra second close to that man, "Well, I guess that wraps this up. Good talking to you, future sister-in-law. Look out for my name on your inbox."

She bit back an _I wish I could say the same_ and rushed towards the elevator. It was crazy to think that her view of the world changed so quickly in the last couple of days. She would never even picture a situation involving murder, kidnapping, and threats, those things were exclusive to fiction, yet there she was, living through all of it at the same time. 

When she entered the car, she sat quietly and handed the paper to Lucy, who exchanged a confused look with Alex before turning the engine on.

"So? An address?" Lucy asked with her eyebrows furrowed as she typed it on the GPS in front of her.

"It's where the son of the camp owner lives. He'll be able to tell us where it is." Kara said while fixing her glasses. 

"And? How was it?" Alex tried, looking over her shoulder at her sister with worry in her eyes since she expected Kara coming back and telling everything with details as she would normally do. She barely slept while anticipating for her conversation with Lex Luthor, who was not only a very successful businessman but also, and most importantly, her soulmate's brother.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now." Kara said in a small voice. Her sister pressed her lips but nodded, respecting her space, and Kara was really grateful for that, she just didn't feel like repeating what she had to hear from Lex anytime soon, maybe never again. She had gone there already expecting him to possibly not be one of the most pleasant people in the world, she had other men in positions of power as a reference to that, but she wasn't really ready for him being that cold, cruel and self-centered at all, especially regarding his own sister.

The GPS guided them through the unknown streets and it didn't take much time for them to arrive at the destination. Kara took a good look at the house, two floors with a very colorful garden on the front, and a red bicycle almost falling down on the side of the stairs that took to the main door. 

"This looks like the place. I could go on my own if you want." Lucy offered since it was clear that Kara wasn't at her best at that moment.

"No, I'm coming too." Kara told her and Lucy didn't try to convince her otherwise. Kara was not about to let an entitled bald man put her down, not when she was so close to getting to Lena.

The three of them left the car, Lucy led them towards the main door and the response after she rang the bell was fast. The door was opened by a man that probably was still on his forties, his dark hair was combed backward with maybe a little too much of gel. He was smiling when he opened the door but, as soon as his eyes met Lucy's, that smile disappeared and his face turned pale as he shook his head in denial.

"No, sir, I didn't come here for that." Lucy rushed to explain. Since she was wearing the usual gatherer clothes, he probably thought the worst had happened. What else could a gathered knocking on your door mean?

"Oh, oh God, thank God." He said in almost perfect English as he moved his hand towards his chest and breathed out in relief, "My wife just left with my son to pick up his mate and I thought... Oh god."

"I'm really sorry for the scare." Lucy apologized, "I'm Lucy Lane, a gatherer of National City Center."

"Ben Lockwood." He told her before they shook hands. Kara and Alex also introduced themselves afterward, "But what is this about?

"Could we talk inside?"

"Sure, I'm sorry, I'm still a little, you know." He moved away from the door to open space for the three women, his hands trembling slightly as he pointed towards the living room, "Please, sit down. Can I offer you guys anything?"

"Maybe you should drink some water, then come back so we can talk." Lucy suggested softly. Kara had never seen her work, she could only imagine how hard it was to be the bearer of bad news, so acting calm and sympathetic like that was probably on the gatherer's manual. Lucy had mentioned once how the psychological training for them was three times as hard as the physical one, they had to deal with an enormous amount of grief and anger almost on a daily basis. Still, Lucy was able to be the life of the party, always. 

"Yeah, you're probably right. Just a second." He nodded before walking towards what was probably his kitchen while Kara, Lucy, and Alex sat down on one of the two couches available in the room. Kara studied her surroundings, there were a lot of books around, as well as family photos of Ben with his wife and child. His master's diploma was being displayed in one of the walls, above a glass cabinet full of what appeared to be sports trophies. 

"I feel better now, sorry about that." He laughed uncomfortably as he sat down across from them, "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'll try to make this quick: We have information that a wanted split has been hiding on Camp Lockwood. We were not able to get the exact location of the campsite, just the name, so I was hoping you would have this information." 

"That campsite has been closed for more than a decade since my father died." Ben told them, "I was never able to sell the land and I was too busy studying to run a business. To be honest, the place hasn't even crossed my mind in years." 

"For being abandoned and with all that was left behind it was the perfect place for a shelter." Lucy explained.

"Well, there's no exact address that you can get to with the help of a GPS, but I can write down some directions from the freeway on. I think I may have a map here somewhere"

"That would be great."

"Thank you." Kara said with a small smile of gratitude that he returned before getting up from the couch and walking towards the door bellow the staircase. 

That was it. They were finally going to know exactly where Lena was. All they would have to do was get to her. But, for some reason, that didn't really ease Kara's mind at all, it only made her more anxious than she already was.

The seconds were dragging as Ben drew some arrows with a red marker over what appeared to be a tourist map of the region, explaining to Lucy what she needed to do and pointing out a few reference points for her to follow. After he was finished, they all thanked him once again and left the house in fast pacing. 

"Okay, what now?" Alex asked before Kara could.

"Now, we'll drive back to the Center, John and I will summon a support team and start a gathering operation" Lucy told them in one breath, once again using her work tone. The supports provided security for the Center and brute force if needed, "And you" She pointed at Kara, "Will patiently wait at the Center's guest room. And you", She then pointed at Alex, "Will make sure she stays there."

"Yes sir, understood." Alex said with a fake formal nod as she opened the car door. Kara almost protested, saying that maybe it would be a good idea for her to tag along, that maybe Lena seeing someone she would recognize would ease the process of leaving that place and being torn from her father. But it was very likely that nothing would be able to actually make things easier for her, so Kara just got inside the car and put her seat belt on, settling on the idea that Lucy was going to bring Lena to her, all she had to do was wait, then take it from there.

But waiting was hard. 

And after Lucy left with John and their team, Kara couldn't stop anxiously pacing back and forth inside the bedroom. It was incredible the number of resources that the Center had, with doctors, psychologists, and soldiers at their disposal. Since they arrived, they were offered everything they needed as soon as they stepped inside. A hotel-quality room to stay, a very nice car to rent, as much as Kara's situation wasn't something common at all, they seemed very much prepared for it. 

"Kara, you're going to open a hole on the floor" Alex called her out while laying in bed, yawning right after. She seemed to be suffering the most with the jet lag even though she was the one used to long periods without any sleep, being a doctor and all. She had just left the phone with her wife, updating her on everything that had happened on the past few hours, "Lucy said they would take at least an hour just to get there, so calm down."

"Sorry." 

"Come here." Alex tapped the empty space by her side on the double bed. They had been given a room with two double beds, a bathroom, and a balcony. As much as the Center's building was huge, it still surprised Kara when she was told their hotel was inside that same building and it surprised her, even more, when she saw the size of each bedroom in there, "You barely slept last night and Lena will need you one hundred percent." 

"I know." Kara sighed, walking towards her sister and laying down by her side, resting her head on her Alex's chest, "I just can't make my head stop." 

"How about you take some of the stuff that is in your head and throw it into mine?" Alex suggested while she caressed Kara's golden hair, "I can think about them for you while you sleep."

"Okay. Well... I don't know what I'm going to do when we find her. I mean, I was scared she wouldn't want to go to National City with us, but now I'm sure she will go because she doesn't have a choice, and I should be somewhat happy about it, but I'm scared that maybe I won't be enough to support her through everything." 

"Wait. What do you mean she doesn't have a choice?"

"Well... Her brother..." Kara pressed her lips, recalling her conversation with Lex with a bitter taste on her mouth. She still wasn't feeling like talking about it, but maybe she would feel better if she did, "He's terrible, Alex. He was certain that she was dead as well as their father, but when I told him she isn't, he only worried about what that would mean for him financially. He even..."

"He even what?" Alex asked when Kara's voice died. 

"... Threatened us. In case I didn't convince her to sign some stupid papers that will probably give away all of their wealth to him."

" _What?_ "

"As incredible as it looks, this is the least of my concerns right now. Because Lena's father also said he would do something to her if I tried to find them and I am way more scared of him than I am of Lex."

"I'm sure Lucy wouldn't let anything happen." She comforted Kara, who felt incredibly lucky for having Alex around, someone who would always have her back. Maybe that was one of the reasons why she was so upset with the Lex situation, because Lena would never have that with her own brother, "And her father went through so much trouble to be with her that I don't believe he would just... You know... Hurt her." 

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I am right. How are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess. Lighter." Kara told her, letting go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding and finally closing her blue eyes, letting the tiredness for the stress and the lack of rest nurse her to sleep. 

She only opened them when she heard noises coming from outside. She bolted awake on the bed, noticing her sister was no longer there. Her heart skipped a beat, afraid that she may have overslept and it was nigh-time already, but the sun was still shining through the gaps on the shutter that covered the window. She got up, rubbing the sleep off from her eyes as she walked towards the door, the noise being turned into voices as she got closer.

"Lucy! You're back!" Kara asked as soon as her eyes met Lucy's, who was standing by John's side as they talked to Alex. The three of them stopped talking, exchanging dreary looks with one another but barely looking at Kara, who immediately feared the worst, "What happened?"

"We had to retreat." The words almost didn't go out of Lucy's mouth, as if they were hard for her to say. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest, her forehead wrinkled in visible irritation. 

"What? Why?"

"When we got there, we tried to reason with Lionel but... He attacked us with arrows." John explained, and Kara's heart started to race so fast she wondered if they were able to listen to it slamming against her chest, "He hit two of our supports, they're recovering fine, but before we can engage again we need to be properly armed and cleared to follow through with extreme measures if necessary."

"The thing is... It's going to take some time for the Administration to accept our request." Lucy pressed her lips and Kara's eyes widened.

"How much time?"

"Maybe hours. We'll probably be there again before dark. I'll push them to make things faster, I promise."

"But we don't have that time." Kara almost cried as she reminded them. Of course, everything was going way too smoothly to be true, "What if he runs away? What if he hurts her?"

Kara would know if Lena got hurt, she would feel it, even if it was a paper cut, a broken bone, or something worse, just like her birth mother felt when her husband was dying on that fire twenty years ago. From the few vivid memories Kara had from her life before the Danvers, that one was the scariest one. They were inside her mother's studio, she was working on a large painting of a garden in the dark. There was music on, and Kara was sat on a very small chair that belonged to a kid's table set, that her mother had bought especially for her so she could keep an eye on Kara while she worked. Her mother then stopped singing along with the lyrics and put her hand against her chest. She started hyperventilating as if she couldn't breathe. The brush fell on the floor, along with the paint, that spread bellow her feet as she struggled for air. Kara wasn't sure anymore of what she did, if she just stood there looking, if she called someone, if she cried, everything that happened after that was cloudy, except for the sight of her mother feeling her father's death.

"I know. But... It's protocol." Lucy sighed, and Kara had never seen her so disappointed in herself before. Kara didn't blame her, she was already so grateful that Lucy went all the way to Ireland and even managed to pull some strings so Kara could tag along, but that was just how Lucy was, she hated when she wasn't able to finish something, "And I can't break, I'm really sorry, Kara. We can't go back there before we are authorized to do so." 

"No... No..." Kara shook her head in denial as she started walking towards the elevator as if running from that conversation would make it less real. She was a hot mess with millions of thoughts spiraling on her head and she just needed to see the sky and breathe some fresh air for a second so she could recollect herself and try and find some light at the end of that very dark tunnel, or she would explode.

"Kara-" Alex called her as she followed her sister. 

"Leave me alone!" Kara yelled as she turned towards her with teary eyes. She knew it wasn't Alex's fault, or Lucy's, but that didn't make her any less desperate, "Sorry. I just need some air."

Alex looked hurt by Kara's reaction, but nodded, stepping back and letting her sister go inside the elevator. When the doors closed, she was about to let herself crumble to the floor as all of her hopes for everything going well were crushed by rules and protocols that she didn't understand, when she looked at the elevator panel and the underground button seemed to stand out from the others. The idea was instant, like a click, and she pressed that button with such confidence and courage, without any hesitation, knowing that not all was lost, that there was something else, one last thing, that could be done.

And _she_ had to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so, I know, I know, another kara chapter, but sometimes I'll have to double chapters from the same perspective for narrative purposes.  
> hope you liked it!  
> drink water, stay safe, thank you for reading!


	7. Lena

That was it. On cabin nine's roof, facing the river, with the sun halfway down on the sky, was the one perfect place for drawing.

Sitting there, cross-legged with the book she had just ruined by tearing off one of its empty pages on her lap, Lena was drawing Kara's face with charcoal, so she wouldn't forget it. Even though she knew that it had been a mere dream, something her mind made up, it was probably her favorite dream, so she didn't want to see it disappear from her memories. 

She still remembered it so perfectly, the curves of her lips, the shape of her jaw, the small scar on her eyebrow. Her fingers were already dark as she let her mind guide her hands across the paper as she drew the traces and brushed the shadows, she could hear the sound of the river colliding against the rocks, the small animals in the forest climbing trees and breaking sticks as they ran around. Maybe, if everything she dreamed of had been actually real and she left the camp, she would actually miss that place. She couldn't imagine anywhere as peaceful as there. 

Her heart ached when she stared at the finished piece, it looked so real, she could barely believe her mind had been capable of making that girl up out of nothing. And it wasn't only her face, it was her life, her family, who she was. Lena sighed, trying to push away those thoughts since they would do nothing but hurt her. Her green eyes looked up at her father, who was sitting relaxed on a chair in front of the river while he rather slept than actually watched for any signs of fish pulling his rod. As if he felt her stare, he stirred awake, taking a good look at the river in front of him and pulling the fishing rod back.

"No fish today." He said in a high tone to make sure Lena could hear him, "We should head north to hunt before it gets dark. Grab our coats."

"Alright." Lena nodded as she folded the drawing and put in on her back pocket, jumping from the roof to the floor and landing perfectly on her feet, years of practice and getting hurt repeatedly helped her master that. She walked towards their cabin, her father following her from afar so he could put his fishing equipment away and grab the hunting ones. When Lena reached her bedroom and opened her chest, she furrowed eyebrows at the mess inside. She clearly remembered folding everything in a way that she could always reach what she needed in the easiest way possible. Her coat, which was always on top since she used it the most, was nowhere to be seen in the middle of all that chaos.

She then started taking them off, one by one, until she finally found the coat she was looking for, the forest green one with a hood, bellow all of the other stuff. Still confused, she grabbed it, and her green eyes widened when she saw the letters carved on the wooden bottom of the chest in desperate and almost unreadable letters. She didn't know what they meant, but she knew exactly how they ended up there.

It was true. 

Soulmates. 

Kara. 

She didn't just hallucinate it all and that was just the proof she needed, a message that Kara left behind. Her chest was filled with a mix of happiness and hope, a smile grew across her face as she touched the letters with the tip on her fingers. 

"Lena. What is taking you so long?" She heard her father's voice from afar, making her jump scared. She couldn't risk him finding out that she knew what truly happened, so she acted fast, throwing all of the clothes back inside the chest in even less order than they were before, closing it as her father reached her doorstep, his arms were crossed in front of his chest while he stared at his daughter with suspicion. 

"I wasn't... Finding my coat." She faked a smile as she lifted the coat she had finally found. He took a step closer, and Lena pressed her lips as she watched him leaning down towards the chest and lifting the cover piece, furrowing his eyebrows as he stared at the unorganized pile of clothes inside.

"This is unlike you." He said, slowly taking the clothes off the chest, piece by piece, and his calm somehow was making Lena even more anxious than she already was, "The mess. And the lying."

It was true. Not even once she had lied to her father, she never had the need for that, what they had was a bond of ultimate trust, that she broke and got caught immediately. 

When her father took out the last piece of clothing and revealed the hidden message on the bottom, his jaw clenched and he slammed the chest closed, making Lena take a step back in fear. He had always been calm, no matter what situation was before them. Yet, a simple phrase carved in wood was enough to make him lose his mind. 

"Father..." She started, even though she had no idea what to say. She didn't know what that message made him think, what kind of explanation his mind was making up so his reality would keep making sense. 

"You know what this means?" He turned towards her, nothing but anger on his dark eyes that looked straight into Lena's, "That she doesn't care about you. At all. I warned her, and she still-"

"Wait." Lena took a step back from her father, her eyes burning with tears as her mind puzzled everything together, "You _know_. You know that all those things I told you actually happened. You lied to me. I thought... That you really believed in everything you said, but you just lied. Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me!" She begged as tears she didn't even try to hold started falling down her face. Not that the idea of her father being a completely delusional man was anything close to something good, but it was better than the idea of him consciously lying to her during her entire life. That changed everything, "Please."

"To them, after your soulmate dies you are nothing but a color code. But I'm more! I'm not a fucking red, green or yellow. I'm a man. Who didn't want to be torn apart from his daughter, so I did what I had to do."

"So you just brainwashed me. You made up a story about the world ending so we could live in this exile? So I wouldn't ask any questions?"

"I did it because I love you. Nothing mattered more to me than being able to raise you. And that would be taken from me if I didn't run, If I didn't hide." He stepped closer to her and she backed off immediately, a feeling that she didn't even know how to describe was cracking her chest open and it was devastating. And to think she pitied him, that she felt sorry for breaking the world he thought was real, when in fact she was the only one who actually believed in it. 

"If you love me that much then why did you give me a life of surviving, when I could be just living?", she asked in a high tone, her voice breaking at almost every word, and he stopped for a second, his mouth opening and closing but no words coming out of it. Apparently, he ran out of lies to tell, "And how did you even know which kind of split you would be? What if you brought me here, a five-year-old, in the middle of nowhere, and got sick and died? Or if you all of a sudden just stopped responding? Huh? How is risking my life like that loving me?"

Before her father could think of anything to say, they heard unfamiliar noises coming from the woods. Both of them looked out the window, narrowing their eyes so they could see better what was coming their way. It didn't sound like an animal, no animal would be able to make that sound, and that was made even clearer when two pairs of lights appeared among the trees. 

Someone was coming for her. And that filled Lena's chest with such relief, because all she wanted was to get out of that place, where she had been lied to, manipulated, hurt, all by the only person in the world she loved. And that she thought loved her too. 

"No." Her father gasped, grabbing Lena by her arm and pulling her out of her bedroom. His grip was firm, strong enough for her to feel her muscles being crushed.

"You are hurting me!" She tried to resist, putting all of her strength on her legs so he would stop dragging her.

"I'll not lose you. Not now, not after everything I've been through for us to be together."

"I don't want to be with you!" She cried, craving her nails on the wall to make it even harder for her father to keep going. She expected to see hurt in her father's eyes after what she said, but there wasn't anything but anger on them. He clearly didn't care at all about what she wanted or not, that had been more than proved over the years as he deceived her into thinking they had no choice but to live on that campsite, he was more worried about leaving before it was too late.

Knowing that she couldn't possibly get out of his grip, Lena was going to try to hold him back as long as she could, at least until whoever was out there was able to find them. 

"You don't know what you are talking about."

"Father, you can't keep living like this, you need to let them help you-"

"I don't need help!" He yelled so loudly that Lena could see the veins in his throat pumping, "I see the world as clear as water, I didn't die, I didn't turn into a human vegetable either. There's nothing I need from them. And I won't be spending the rest of my life locked behind bars like a criminal."

Lena blinked a few times, only realizing now that what her father was saying made sense. But how was that possible? How could he not fit in any kind of split?

"Then go!" She tried to pull her arm to herself, but no success as her father was obviously stronger than her. She didn't want her father to be out there, alone in the woods, struggling each day to keep on living, but all of her life had been about what he wanted, and she wasn't about to do the same thing with him, "But leave me."

"You _are_ coming with me."

"Please I... I just want to live."

"Lena. I'm sorry." He finally stopped walking, his hand touching Lena's wet cheek as he wiped one of her many desperate tears. For a moment, she thought he would apologize for everything he did, that he would listen to reason and stop trying to run, "But... You're leaving me no choice."

It was the last thing she heard before her head was slammed against the closest wall. When it happened, she didn't even feel pain, it was like a snap of fingers, a moment of darkness, then she opened her eyes again and that was when it actually hurt. It was like a bell was ringing inside her head while it collided against her skull, not strong enough to break her bones, but just the right amount to make her feel like she was spinning even though she was tied to a chair. She was seeing two of everything around her, as well as every sound muffled as if she was underwater trying to listen to voices coming from the surface. 

After closing and opening her eyes again multiple times, she was finally able to see things clearer. Her father was leaning down in front of a closed window, strongly holding his hunting bow that he hadn't used ever since Lena's skills surpassed his. He looked up at Lena, not a single sign of remorse in his look, only tension, as he appeared to be waiting for the right moment to shoot an arrow outside. As she looked at him, she saw someone completely different from the man who raised her. 

He hurt her. He truly smashed her head against a wall and tied her to a chair. The one person who always promised to keep her safe, had been the true danger all along.

"... What you have to do!" A male voice coming from outside shouted a sentence that Lena caught in the middle, "For your daughter's sake, step outside. Turn yourself in."

With no response coming from Lena's father, the man kept trying to call his attention. 

"I'm sure you would like to see your son again, Lionel." The man's voice was less aggressive this time, and Lena widened her eyes, for hearing her father's actual name for the first time since she could remember, and for knowing now that even the story about her brother and her mother dying was a lie. At least, that was what she thought for a split second until she noticed the shock in Lionel's face. It looked like he didn't know his son was alive either, "He was the one who helped us get here, get to you."

Lionel stared at the floor for a moment, then took a deep breath before lifting his body up and punching the window open, giving him the space he needed to shoot an arrow outside. Lena bolted when she heard the scream of pain, and before she could think about reacting, her father shoot one more time, hitting again judging by a second scream, that sounded even louder than the first one.

"Father! Stop!" Lena yelled, but her father didn't even flinch, shooting once again, but this time he missed, and the next one too, she could tell by the frustration wrinkles on his forehead, until he stood aiming for a brief period of time as his eyes studied his surroundings before standing down, closing the window again.

"We don't have much time." He said, more to himself than to Lena, as he walked towards the door. She could hear the car engines outside, as well as the struggle of the wheels fighting against the mud.

They were leaving.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll gather everything we need and get the boat ready." He told her, so willingly that it was like he truly thought Lena was on board with everything. The boat he was talking about was the only one left on the boathouse, it had no engine and a single paddle that was broken in half, "I don't know when they are coming back, but they definitely will. We can't be here when that happens."

Before Lena could say anything else, her father left the cabin, slamming the door closed behind him. She took a deep breath as she tried to keep it together, paying attention to his footsteps as he moved away. When she could no longer hear them, she started studying the knot that was above her wrists with the tip of her fingers. She closed her eyes, believing that it could help her visualize the rope better. Living in the woods required some knowledge about knots in ropes, and Lena's father had taught her more than enough about it for her to know exactly how to tie and untie them.

It took her about a minute to free herself, but, as soon as she did, she ran back to her bedroom and put on her coat, pulling her bow and quiver that she kept under her bed before using the open window that her father left behind to jump out of the cabin, trying her best to make no sound as she landed outside. 

Everything around her felt so much bigger, since she always left her home with a purpose, hunting, fishing or tending to the crops, but now the only objective was getting away from that place, as fast as she could. But she couldn't really leave, at least not yet. If someone really did come back for her like her father was expecting, she had to be there, otherwise, they probably wouldn't find her. 

So she ran north, towards the main cabin, a place where her father probably wouldn't go since he wouldn't find anything he needed there. She opened the door, climbing up the stairs that took to the office, the one where she got most of her drawing supplies. There was a hole in the roof caused by a fallen tree, and that was the perfect spot for Lena to be hiding and watching her surroundings at the same time.

She pushed the bookshelf, that wasn't that heavy since Lena had stolen most of the books for herself, until the door was barred. Then she placed the desk right under the hole, so she could jump and grab the tree branch that was hanging inside. She used the leaves to hide as best as she could while she sat there as the wind brought the cold from the mountains, her head going over everything that had happened in the last few hours, and how her life escalated so quickly before her eyes. 

Her bones were already hurting with the cold when she saw her father, walking his way up to Lena's location, his backpack on his back, bow on his hand. That was when she realized that she forgot the tracks she left behind. Truth was, she was nowhere near good at tracking like her father was, and that was probably one of the main reasons why he still went on their hunting trips. He smiled slightly when he reached the end of Lena's trail of footsteps, just outside the main door.

"I knew you wouldn't go far." He said loudly, knowing for certain that Lena was within hearing reach, "I mean, where would you go anyways? This is everything you know."

And Lena felt her throat burn as she pressed her lips. She was not about to let him mess with her head again. Not anymore. 

She listened carefully at her father's heavy steps while he walked inside the cabin, the floor cracking bellow his weight. When he got close enough to the office, Lena thought it was the best moment for her to go down, since he would have to run all the way back to the main door to catch her. She carefully slid down the roof and jumped when she was about to reach the end of it. Her father certainly heard her as she landed on the floor, and ran towards her immediately. Lena didn't even try to catch her breath as she rushed away from the campsite grounds and into the woods, where she could use the trees as cover. It was about to get dark, but it was still bright enough to be hard for her to actually hide. She never ran that fast in her life, jumping over obstacles, going left and right so it would be harder for her father to keep track of her.

Lena felt in advantage, she was smaller and faster and had a head-start, until she felt excruciating pain starting on her back and ending on her abdomen. She grabbed one of the trees by her side so she wouldn't fall, as she stared down in horror at the arrow that was pierced through her body. Out of nowhere, a loud sound of something crashing startled Lena back to reality before she let herself shut down. She didn't have time to wonder what that was, she had to keep going, so she held her breath and started running again, slower, but still running, so that was a win. Still, everything else was against her. The blood, that was escaping through the gaps between her fingers as she tried to press her wound without touching the arrow, the cold that seemed to gradually freeze her bones and her father's footsteps, that sounded closer and closer by second. 

"You were never really resistant to pain, you know." He yelled as Lena trembled with the cold while using all strength she had to keep running, "Whenever you got hurt, you always ran right back to your father."

Lena shook her head, ignoring his voice as tears of pain ran down her face. From where she was, she could see a very bright source of light, she wasn't sure if it was the end of the woods or something else, and that small confusion was enough distraction for her to stumble against a small rock and fall over. But she didn't hit the floor. She was held by arms, warm and firm, but still not strong enough to hold her so suddenly, so both her and who caught her knelt on the floor. Lena looked up and her green eyes widened as she stared at the blue ones in front of her. 

Kara.

It was like only at that moment, Kara became real. She had been a reflection on the mirror, a picture on the wall, a memory on her mind, but now she was finally someone, whose face was inches away from Lena's, whose breath she could feel against her cheeks. The world, that seemed to be spinning so fast during the last few minutes, abruptly stopped at the very same moment that Lena's eyes found Kara's, making her forget her pain, cold and fear.

But only for a moment. 

Kara's face was pale, definitely not just from the cold, but also from the blood that was now all over her coat. She asked Lena something, her eyes full of worry while she was still holding her arms, but Lena of course had no clue of what she said, still, only the sound of her voice already made her feel safer somehow. As soon as Lena heard a small crack of a branch being broken, she turned towards the direction she came from, her arrow ready to be fired, her body between Kara and the threat that approached them. She waited for the exact moment that her father appeared upon her sights and let go of the arrow, that pierced the air and hit his knee, exactly where she intended to. She clenched her jaw while she heard her father screams of pain, with a gasp of horror coming from Kara on the background. With the last bit of strength she still had, she whispered:

"I'm not going back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had that last part in my mind for WEEKS it was so good to finally write it down  
> hope you guys liked it
> 
> (just a warning, next one might take a while bc my semester is almost ending and with it comes exams so, sorry in advance)


	8. Kara

Kara knew that there was no turning back when she reached the exit Ben Lockwood mentioned, that would take her straight to the camp. She took a deep breath before taking a turn to the right, accelerating a bit so the car would struggle less against the muddy path, her heart pounding all the way up there until it skipped a beat when she saw the sign, mostly covered with roots and its letters faded because of the time. 

Camp Lockwood. 

So close. 

She took a look down at her phone, which was resting on the passenger's seat by her side, full of messages and phone calls from her sister, who quickly realized that Kara went out for more than just fresh air. There wasn't phone coverage anymore and she doubted she would find any from that point on, so, if Kara needed anything, any help...

She shoved that thought away then drove further into the woods, could barely see anything but the trail that was in front of her since the whole place was filled with trees. It amazed Kara, to see a place like that, overgrown by nature and barely touched by human hands, it looked beautiful, but also intimidating, in a way that National City, with all those buildings, lights and noisy people was not. Kara was a city kid, she was raised surrounded by skyscrapers and the sound of traffic, her mother never let her have a bicycle because she knew Kara could get distracted and not pay attention to the cars, even though the speed limit in residential areas was always 15 mph, and the one time she went camping was on her own backyard with Alex and they didn't even spend the night. 

Kara was in the middle of taking a tricky turn so she could get past a fallen tree when she felt a sudden and sharp pain on the side of her abdomen. That made her lose her focus and balance as she moved her hands towards the source of the pain and that small moment of distraction from the wheel was more than enough for her to crash the car against the nearest tree. 

She wasn't going fast, so the impact barely moved her and it didn't really do much damage to the car, not that she was really worried about that right now, since the pain that she felt didn't come from her. It came from Lena. She was the one who was hurt.

Kara knew she had to get to her as fast as she could, and that thought was confirmed when she heard Lena's name being yelled from afar. Her blue eyes widened and she jumped out of the car, making sure she left the headlights on so it would be easier to find the car afterward. Then she closed the door, a little bit stronger than she intended to, as she pushed away from the fear of getting lost in the woods and tried to follow the voice. 

She walked slowly, not letting her steps sound louder than the ones she was hearing from afar. Not that she was an expert, but she could tell those were the sounds of two people running, and only then it hit Kara that she had absolutely no idea of what to do once she actually found Lena. That pain she felt... It was clear that Lena had gotten hurt, and Kara's first thought was that her own father was responsible for that. What she didn't know was what she could possibly do against him in order to protect her. She was no fighter, even though she played several sports during her school years and her mother asked for her help rather than Alex's when she needed to carry heavy boxes to the cake shop's storage, she wasn't sure she could land a punch on anyone's face. 

The steps were suddenly closer than she expected, and she only had the time to see a blur in front of her before she was holding the weight of Lena's body, that was being pulled down by Lena's lack of strength on her own legs and Kara's surprise and shock with her being actually there. When her eyes met the greens in front of her, the world stopped for a moment, and she remembered Alex telling her how magical it was to look at Kelly for the first time after she knew she was her soulmate, how the world entered in slow motion and, in amidst of everything around her, Kelly was all she could see. Kara didn't doubt that for a second, she just didn't know how breathtaking that moment would actually be when it happened to her. 

Kara's heartbeat slowed its pace as she stared at Lena, stunned by her ethereal beauty that seemed to put Kara under some kind of magic spell. The forest dissolved as if it had been made of paint and had water thrown over it, making Lena's face the only clear thing that Kara could see. And Kara was _feeling_ her, actually feeling her, her hands, her weight, her... blood.

And that was when the spell was broken, and Kara blinked a few times when she looked down at her hands, the red on them making her face pale. 

"What happened?" She asked, feeling her stomach swirl when she noticed the arrowhead that was piercing Lena's skin. Lena just looked back at her with tired eyes and a sweaty face, even though it was so cold in that forest that not even Kara's coat was enough to shield her from the chill. Kara then heard a sound, and at the same time she lifted her head, Lema turned towards the way she came abruptly, arming herself with an arrow of her own that she really struggled to keep steady as she waited for something to happen, something Kara wasn't sure of. 

She didn't even have the time to process Lionel's presence there before Lena let go of the arrow, that landed straight on her father's knee. He screamed in pain and Kara gasped in horror at the sight of that, her heart slamming against her chest. She wanted to close her eyes, look away from that man that screamed his lungs out in agony, but Lena's weight felt heavier all of a sudden, so Kara tightened her grasp around Lena's arms. 

She had to focus. She didn't have time to be scared.

"No, no, no, stay with me." She whispered to Lena when she realized she was about to pass out.

She struggled to get up, lifting Lena's body with her, placing Lena's arm around her shoulder so she could carry her. Lionel didn't look like he was able to get up from the floor anytime soon, still grasping with pain as he decided between leaving the arrow where it was or pulling it off. He exchanged a look with Kara, eyes sparkling with tears of pain and hatred.

"You..." He said with clenched teeth, "This is all _your_ fault. I would never have to hurt her if you listened to my warning. If... If she dies, it's on _you_."

Kara trembled, trying her best to just ignore his words as she turned away from Lionel and walked slowly towards where she remembered the car was, trying to balance Lena's weight and not bump into anything on her way. She could tell Lena was half awake, still taking some steps to help Kara and breathing heavily through the pain. Luckily, the car wasn't so far away and Kara had had the brilliant idea of leaving the lights on, so she saw it from afar. 

Lena almost fell when Kara had to put on some strength to open the door, and Kara's heart skipped a beat at the possibility of Lena getting even more hurt than she already was, but was able to hold her again before anything actually happened. 

"I got you." She said as she pushed her phone away and helped Lena sit, sideways, since sitting straight would probably force the arrow deeper inside her body and no, no one wanted that. Lena rested her head on the back of the seat and her eyes closed, and that was when Kara noticed a bruise on the side of her head, that was well hidden by her dark hair, but it was still there, the tick blood glowing against the car's light. Kara had to rush to hold Lena's body and keep her from falling once again. She breathed out in relief when she saw the seat belt would be enough to hold Lena still, then closed the door and ran towards the driver's side of the car. 

Before taking off, she thought of Lionel for a moment, if maybe she should help him, if she should take them both to the hospital. But could she really risk going back there? And what if he hurt her too? That would mean the end for both her and Lena, so she made herself turn the engine on. 

The team from the Center would go back there soon anyway, so he should be fine. 

When she reached the freeway, she stopped on the side of the road, unlocking her phone with trembling hands as she tried to look for the nearest hospital on google maps, but all she was doing was cover her phone's screen with blood. 

She slightly bolted when her phone started vibrating on her hand. A picture of Alex, Kelly and Cassie on the screen, that had been taken by Kara the last time they went on a picnic together. Kara hit the green button and put her phone on her ear, spreading some of the blood on her cheeks as well. God, there was blood just everywhere on that point.

"Kara! Thank God! Where the fuck are you? Please, do not tell me you went after that psycho on your own." Alex yelled on the other side of the line before Kara even had the chance of thinking of anything to say, clearly angry and worried about her sister, "Kara?"

"I need help." She almost whispered, but luckily Alex was still able to hear her.

"What? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Alex asked, immediately putting all feelings aside since Kara's unstable tone while asking her for help was more than enough for her to know something was not right.

"It's Lena. She's loosing too much blood." Kara explained, her mind felt foggy and she was in no condition of giving Alex proper context, "I need to find a hospital but I can't type... My fingers are all sticky and I don't know where anywhere is-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Alex cut her off, trying to keep her sister from spiraling completely, "Listen, I'll be sending you a location, you can click it and it will open Google maps instantly. Just click on it, okay?"

"Okay." Kara nodded rapidly.

"How is Lena?" Alex asked cautiously, Kara was sure she had way more questions than just that one but she probably would keep them for later.

"She's... She passed out." 

"What hurt her?"

"An arrow." Kara's eyes were staring at the arrowhead again.

"An arrow." Alex repeated as if it would make it more believable. As a doctor, Alex had taken care of two kinds of patients until now: The ones with an illness and the ones that had suffered some kind of accident, from domestic and silly things like cutting a hand with a broken cup to more serious things like car crashes. Not even once she came across someone who was assaulted, who had been hurt on purpose. Things like that were exclusive to movies, "Kara, you can't possibly let this arrow move. It may seem like she is bleeding a lot, but the arrow is actually keeping most of the blood inside. Also, try to keep her warm. I'm heading to the hospital, so I'll be there when you arrive."

"Okay. Alright."

"You got this. See you soon." Alex was the one who ended the call first, and in a matter of seconds, the hospital address had already been sent to Kara, who had to press it twice to actually open it. She tried to clean her phone cover with her coat's sleeve, only seemed to spread it, but it was better than it was before. She turned the car on once again, trying to find the balance between going fast, so Lena could get help as soon as possible, and driving carefully, so she wouldn't move and risk making her situation worse. She glanced at Lena from time to time, to make sure she was fine but, well, she was not fine, she had a freaking arrow across her body and, judging by the line of sweat on her forehead, probably a fever. If Kara made a single mistake she could make things worse. She could kill her. 

_But no pressure. Everything is fine. Just drive, Kara._

And she drove, as faster as possible in straight lines and as slowly as she could during curves, leaning one arm over to hold Lena still every time she had to make a turn. Despite of her efforts to be quick, It was already dark when she reached the hospital and she was hit by the ice-cold wind as soon as she opened the door. She was able to stop close to the main door, so she barely had to run to reach the reception. The only person there apart from the hospital staff was her sister, who got up as soon as she noticed Kara's presence.

"Kara! Are you okay?" Alex rushed to her sister's side, holding Kara's face between her hands, "Where's Lena?"

She blinked blankly at her sister, not that she didn't know the answer, she knew, but so much had happened on the past few hours that Kara was finding it hard to just keep functioning. Alex saw her distress as a sign she should probably take over the situation, so she carefully moved her sister towards the waiting room and after that all Kara registered were noises and blurs as she sat down on the closest chair and stared at her shoes, covered in mud from the forest, but they didn't look worse than Kara's beige coat, that had more red spots than she could count. Also her hands... She kept rubbing them on each other, on her pants, on her coat, but the blood just wouldn't go away, it wouldn't go away-

"Kara, hey, stop." Alex grabbed her hands when the rubbing got too intense, and Kara wondered when did her sister come back from... Wherever she went.

"Lena-"

"Lena will be okay. The doctors are taking care of her now. Come with me, let's get these hands washed."

Trusting her word, Kara nodded and got up from where she was seated, following her sister to the bathroom that was at the end of that same hallway. Alex helped her with the soap and she did the rest, finding a little bit of comfort in her clean hands. Alex squeezed her shoulder, staring at her with eyes full of worry as she gently pushed Kara back towards the waiting room, making sure she was sitting down before walking away again, coming back with two steamy cups.

"What is this?" Kara asked as she held the cup Alex offered her, her voice faded since it had been a while since she said anything.

"Hot chocolate." She told her, pressing her lips at Kara's pout, "You're not having coffee. You barely slept on the last two days."

"Fine." Kara huffed as she took a sip of her drink, so sweet and warm that she was no longer frustrated for not having coffee. Every sip after that had Alex staring at her closely, so Kara sighed, "Look, I know you're mad at me, but-"

"Mad? I am not mad. I am _furious_ " Alex clarified, "Do you have any idea of how fucking wrong this could've gone? Because I have like, fifteen different worst-case scenarios in mind."

"Alex, I couldn't risk losing her. If I wasn't there..." Her sentence died in the middle as her mind was occupied with the darkest thoughts she had ever had. 

"I understand that. But it doesn't change the fact that you risked even more by going after her alone. This was the most reckless thing you have ever done, and I thought that one time when you were eleven and jumped off grandma's roof to fall inside the pool and almost missed would never be surpassed."

"I didn't even almost miss, you're exaggerating." Kara rolled her eyes, but she knew very well that she wasn't dead now just by a few inches, "But you don't get it, Alex. You went trough the perfect mating, you were twenty-two, it was with someone you already knew and that lived blocks away from our house. You didn't have to feel this... Fear of losing her before you even had the chance of having her in the first place."

Alex sighed, squeezing her sister's hand in a comforting way.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I was just worried sick about you when I realized where you went and you wouldn't pick up the phone. "

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I felt when she... When she was shot, you know. While I was driving. The pain was so intense that It took me a while to realize that I wasn't actually hurt. It made me think of my mother." Kara told her while she stared at her dirty shoes. She didn't talk much about her birth mother and, when she did, it was always with Alex.

"How was it when you found her?"

"She bumped into me, bleeding, almost passing out, I had to hold her or she would fall. I looked at her and..." Kara's loss of words made a small smile grow on Alex's face.

"Yeah. That sounds about right." Alex said as she took a sip of her coffee, probably remembering her own experience. 

"She was running from her father. And, when he caught up to us, she shot him with an arrow right in the knee. While she was trembling and in pain, she was still able to land a perfect shot. I don't know how to feel about that."

"Sounds hot." Alex joked to lighten the mood but Kara's grimace made her regret it instantly, "It was clever of her to hit him in the knee though. That means he won't be going anywhere and Lucy will be able to catch him."

"Where is she now?"

"She texted me a while ago and said she was on her way to the camp with John, they finally got the clearance they needed. But, since he's hurt, they might want to take him to a different hospital so he won't be anywhere near Lena. I'll let her know" Alex pulled her phone out of her pocket and started writing a text to Lucy. Kara had worried if her actions would affect Lucy in any way, even though she followed the orders of her superiors, Kara was there under her wing after all. She hoped she didn't cause her friend any problems.

Alex was just putting her phone back in her pocket when a doctor walked towards their direction. Kara almost dropped her cup as she abruptly got up from her chair, there was no one else in that waiting room so that doctor clearly wanted to talk to them. 

"How is she?" Kara asked before the doctor had the chance of saying anything, Alex got up as well, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she waited for the doctor to tell them how everything went. 

"Recovering." She answered with a small smile, happy to be able to give them good news instead of bad ones, "We were able to remove the arrow with no complications, she needed a couple of stitches on the bruise in her head, but she will be fine."

"Oh, thank you so much, doctor... Rojas." Kara read her nameplate while a weight she didn't even know she was carrying was lifted from her shoulders. She made it. She was able to find Lena and now she was safe. Everything would be fine, "Really. Thank you. Is it okay if I see her?"

"Yes. She should be awake in an hour or so, but I would like to keep an eye on her for the next couple of days. She has a lower number of antibodies than what's adequate, as well as signs on malnutrition." She explained, and as scary as that was, it should've been expected. Lena lived for more than ten years on that campsite and Kara could only imagine what kind of things she had to eat to survive, "What exactly happened to her?"

Kara took a deep breath before telling the doctor pretty much everything she knew about Lena's life, and that everything wasn't really a lot, since most of it was just assumptions based on the little information they had. Doctor Roja's eyes widened more and more as Kara spoke, and she spent a few seconds just absorbing everything before offering to take them to Lena's room. Kara thanked her once again and walked behind the doctor as she guided them across the white hospital hallways. Peaking through the windows, Kara noticed that most of the rooms were empty, apart from three or four that seemed to be occupied by patients that had been there for a while, judging by the flowers and the blankets that certainly weren't from the hospital.

"You go first. I have some more questions I'd like to ask you, doctor, if that is okay." Alex said when they reached the door to Lena's room, that was the last one before the elevator. Kara gladly nodded, knowing that Alex wasn't just curious about deeper medical stuff on Lena's condition, but she also wanted Kara to be able to have some time alone with her. She walked inside, slowly so she wouldn't make much noise even though Lena was under medication and wouldn't wake up that easily.

"Hey." Kara whispered as she pulled the chair by the bed closer and sat down, getting acquainted with it since she would probably spend a lot of time sitting there in the next few days. She put her cup of hot chocolate on the end table by the bed and looked at Lena, who slept peacefully as a monitor kept track of her heartbeat and a sack of blood was tied to her veins. She looked a little bit better than in the car, but still so tired, "I know you can't hear me, and even if you could you wouldn't understand, but I still want to talk to you, I hope that's okay. I hope you're okay. I'm really excited to finally meet you, and learn more about who you are." Kara hesitantly held Lena's hand, "I'm sorry that things won't get any easier from here but... We'll always have each other."

Kara wasn't sure at which point she fell asleep on that chair, all the tiredness from the lack of sleep of the past couple of days finally catching up to her. And, for a while, she was able to enjoy a dreamless sleep, until the darkness distorted itself and turned into trees. Her heart raced as she walked around that forest, that had no end and was all the same: Every tree, every branch, every bush identical to one another. She started running until she bumped into something and fell against the floor, her arms and her face covered in mud as she lifted her body with exhausting effort. She looked behind her, trying to identify what exactly made her trip. 

It was Lena. And she was dead. 

"Kara?" A hand touching Kara's shoulder brought her back to reality as she bolted awake on her chair. The first thing she did when she regained consciousness was looking towards Lena, who still slept by her side. She was fine. It was just a nightmare, "I didn't want to wake you up but you were shaking."

"It's nothing. I'm fine." Kara waved away Lucy's concerns, even though she was not fine by any means, "When did you get here?"

"Just now." Lucy sat on the second chair that was available inside the room.

"And how did it go? Did you guys catch him?"

"Yep. We found him crawling in the woods with an arrow in the knee. Bastard." Anger sparkled in Lucy's eyes.

"And what happens now?"

"Now, after he's taken care of, he goes to the Center for evaluation. We all know he's a red but he needs a diagnose before receiving all the necessary treatment." Lucy told her, but it was clear that she was actually wanting to say something else, "Kara, listen... I'm sorry. I should've done more. If anything happened to you because I followed the goddamned protocol-"

"Lucy, no. You did everything you could do. I can never thank you enough for helping me." Kara said with nothing but honesty in her words. If it wasn't for Lucy, she wouldn't even be there to have done anything in the first place. 

"Sometimes it annoys me how nice you are." Lucy rolled her eyes, resting a hand on Kara's shoulder with a small smile, "I'm glad you're okay."

Kara smiled back, and she almost didn't realize when a pair of bright green eyes opened right beside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my exams were pushed to next week (that is now this week) so I was able to write sooner than expected!  
> hope you liked it!


	9. Lena

Lena struggled to open her eyes, which seemed to be fighting against a stronger force trying to keep them shut. Still, when she was finally able to fully open them, they shut again involuntarily, not because of the numbness that was stopping her from feeling pretty much her whole body, but because of an intense white light that made her eyelids burn. After a few seconds, she made another attempt, this time fighting against the light that blinded her as she blinked repeatedly so she could get used to all that clarity. When she finally made it, she furrowed her eyebrows at the unfamiliar white ceiling above her. She didn't even know ceilings could be so clean, used to the rusty, covered in spiderwebs ones she had seen on every single cabin at the camp.

The camp. 

She was not there anymore. 

And, for a moment, she forgot it all. It felt good, to think, even just for a split second, that she had made it out of the camp by some kind of magic, a blink of an eye, and she was there. However, as she stared blankly at the ceiling, It was all slowly coming back to her. Some memories were in the form of images, the roof, the forest, the arrow... The blood. But most of what she remembered was feelings. The fear, the cold, the pain, the struggle, and, above it all, a very intense and strong feeling of betrayal. 

Her heart was racing as she glimpsed at the window by her side, skipping a beat at the sight of the town through the glass. For Lena, the night always meant quietness, darkness, whenever she looked out the window from the cabin, she couldn't see a single thing, as if the world stopped existing as soon as the sun went down. Yet the city was bright, full of colored lights that made it feel alive. 

"Hey." It was just a whisper, but it was still enough to startle Lena a bit. As much as not being chased by her father at the forest anymore already brought her a certain feeling of safety, the fear of the unknown was still bigger. However, she relaxed when she turned towards the voice and saw Kara, looking her at with tired and worried blue eyes as she offered Lena a small smile, happy to see her awake.

And Lena felt her stomach fluttering the same ways butterflies wings did as they flew. 

Kara said something above her shoulder, and only then Lena realized there was someone else in the room, a woman, a few inches shorter than Kara, all dressed in black. The woman nodded to whatever Kara told her and left, leaving the two of them alone. 

As Lena slowly regained her senses, she noticed multiple things piercing her skin, some of them with wires that were connected to the thing with the annoying beep sound. Her first instinct was to rip those off, they weren't hurting for some strange reason, but they didn't look like they should be there.

As soon as she grabbed one, Kara stopped her with an urgent yet gentle touch on her hand, shaking her head negatively. Lena looked at her for a second, then put her hand away, knowing now that she should not touch those things. As she felt more and more awake, her curiosity started to sparkle, so she started studying her surroundings. The only place she had known other than the cabins at the camp was Kara's house or some parts of it. That room, however, was different. It had way fewer colors, no pictures on the walls, none of the things that made Kara's place look so welcoming. Instead, it had white and a very pale tone of blue on the walls, nothing on that bedroom other than the bed Lena was laying on, a pair of chairs, some machines, and a couple of cabinets. The strangest part was the window, that showed the hallway, not outside, and that didn't make any sense in Lena's mind because why would you possibly need a window that showed another part of the interior? 

She sighed, realizing that, from that moment on, nothing would make sense for her anymore. She grew up used to a very limited set of things, the woods, the cabins, the river, that pretty much summarized what the world looked like in Lena's mind but, in reality, it was huge. She still remembered the map Alex had shown her, so she could point where she lived and wow, in the paper it was so big, she could only imagine how huge it actually was. So she should just get used to being an outcast for a while. 

Irritated with the beep beep, she looked over to the thing by her side. It was a screen, just like the ones on the cellphones she had used to talk to Alex and Kelly. She lifted her hand, trying to touch the screen, see if she could change it, but she couldn't. Confusion washed over her face, and Kara said something, stopping herself in the middle of her sentence as if only then she remembered Lena couldn't understand her. She then tapped on her chest, rhythmically, matching the beep sound after a few taps, looking at the screen while she did it. It took Lena a second, but she got what the machine was for, and asked herself how was it possible. 

The woman in black entered the room again, bringing with her a woman in white. Lena had already guessed she was in a hospital, the place pretty much matched the descriptions of hospitals she had read in books, but it became more obvious when the doctor showed up. 

What scared her was that the main protagonist's experiences in hospitals were never pleasant. 

"Lena, hello. I'm doctor Andrea Rojas, I'll be the one taking care of you for the next few days. How are you feeling?" At first, it surprised Lena that the doctor spoke her language, she didn't really consider where exactly in the world she was until that moment.

"Good." 

"That's great. I'll just check a few things. Can you follow my fingers?" She asked, lifting two fingers in front of Lena's eyes and moving them from left to right. Lena did as she asked, confused that she was asked to accomplish such a simple task, "Great. I'll lift the blanket so I can check on your bandages, okay?" Lena nodded, trying to get a peek of her wound as the doctor studied it. She was surprised when she saw the bandages, looking clean and dry, totally different from the dirty rags she used to have as a resource whenever she got hurt, "Looking good over here too."

"So that means I can leave?" Lena asked her, not able to hide how anxious that place was making her feel. 

"Not yet. You need to heal a little bit more before you'll be able to go home, the stitches are too recent and I want to keep an eye out for the bruise in your head for a while." That sounded reasonable, "Also, I need some numbers to go up, vitamins and antibodies. On the contrary, the risk of you getting an infection out there is very high and we don't want that."

That on the other hand didn't make any sense. Antibodies didn't sound like a good thing and it confused Lena a little why exactly she needed to have those, but she just sat there, watching the doctor continued examining her, always asking for her consent before doing every single thing on her procedure, much to Lena's relief, since she was not at all used to being touched. Another thing she wasn't used to was being watched, so it made her nervous to have both Kara and the woman in black staring at her while the doctor worked, but she tried to not let her lack of comfort show, avoiding eye contact with the two women and just paying attention to every move the doctor did.

It didn't take long for her to have everything she needed, the last thing she did was inject something in one of the wires that were connected to Lena's arm. She warned her that it was to prevent the pain and it would make her sleepy, Lena just nodded at everything she was told, not sure if she was even allowed to ask any questions, and she had a lot of them in mind. Before leaving, doctor Rojas exchanged a few words with Kara, who listened attentively as she pressed her lips in a thin line, visibly concerned. 

Noticing Kara was worried about her gave Lena that same fluttering feeling on her stomach, not that it was bad, but it wasn't good either, she would rather it just stopped. 

The woman in black looked like she was leaving too, standing on the doorstep as she talked to Kara, in a tone that looked like she was giving instructions of some sort. Kara then took off her coat and put it on the woman's hands, and only then Lena noticed the bloodstains all over it. 

Her blood. 

Eventually, the woman left the room, not without exchanging a quick look with Lena that she couldn't quite interpret, and the two of them were alone once again. The fluttering seemed to be getting worse and worse as Kara walked back to Lena's side, sitting down on the armchair by the bed after she pulled out from her pocket what Lena recognized as that device Alex and Kelly used to talk to her. What was it called again? 

_"My sister told me you guys talked like this."_ The familiar robotic lady voice spoke. As Lena nodded in response, Kara did a thing with her face where her forehead wrinkled and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Lena thought it was funny, so she laughed. She expected Kara to say something else to the thing- the phone- so it would be translated but, instead, Kara spoke directly to her, slowly, dragging every letter, but Lena could still understand the words in: 

"I'm sorry."

And she just stared at Kara for a few seconds, surprised. 

_"I couldn't learn much of Irish in a day but I really wanted you to know that I'm sorry, for everything."_ Kara explained herself, this time with the help of the translator, _"I wish things could've been different."_

Lena wished that too. And she also wished she could thank Kara, in her language, for what she did for her. Lena knew she wouldn't be able to escape her father on her own. If Kara hadn't been there to catch her, she would have fallen and probably would not get up again. 

She then started thinking about him, looking down at where her bandages were covering her wound. The last memory she had of her father was his screams of pain, pain that she inflicted. If there was someone she never saw herself hurting, it was him, yet when she shot that arrow she didn't have to think twice. If there was one thing she could thank him for was the survival instincts that he taught her through the years, that allowed her to have the mindset to defend herself, regardless of who she had to defend herself from, no matter what were the circumstances.

_"If you're worried about your father, he is going to be fine."_ Kara told her, and Lena lifted her eyes to stare at Kara, wondering how she could possibly know what Lena was thinking. Maybe it was a soulmate thing. Or maybe it was just too obvious, _"They'll take care of him at the Center. And we can go see him if you want to. But it's okay if you don't."_

Lena didn't really know what she wanted. Part of her didn't feel like seeing her father ever again. He lied to her, he manipulated her, he _hurt_ her. Maybe the best way to make it stop hurting was erasing him from her memory. But, another part, that was minor but somehow louder, didn't know how she could possibly move forward without him. 

Kara was holding the phone towards her, waiting for Lena to take it and give her any kind of response but, before she could think of an answer, her attention shifted to the door when she noticed someone at the doorstep. Her eyes met Alex's, who waved with a small smile on her face as she entered the room. She took the phone off Kara's hand with a teasing look in her eyes as Kara complained. Everything about that scene was unfamiliar, of course, that, for Lena, only the fact there were that many people around her was already new, but also the way they were acting around each other, Kara pretending to be angry but her eyes saying something else, something good. 

Maybe that was what it was like to have a sibling. Lena then thought of her brother, who she remembered nothing about, who was alive after all. 

_"I told you I would see you soon"_ Alex said her through the translator, and Lena smiled shyly, feeling genuinely happy to see Alex again. As much as she had only seen her once before and talked to her for just a few hours, both she and Kelly had been nothing but kind, so she liked them very quickly. _"And I'm happy to actually see you"_

Only then it hit Lena that Alex had never seen her, seen what she looked like. She wondered if Alex had pictured her differently in her head. 

_"Are you okay?",_ Alex asked her, offering her the phone. Lena took it, feeling it heavier on her hands than she remembered. As she stared at the screen, trying to remember which button she was supposed to hit to speak, tiredness took over her body, the feeling reminding her of what the first contact with the cold wind after a night of sleeping by the fire felt like. It was quick and made her numb. 

"Yes. Just tired." She answered with a rough voice, clearing her throat right after. Kara quickly offered her a plastic cup, that Lena hadn't noticed it was there until it was placed in front of her. Lena took it, making sure it was water before taking a sip that her throat gladly welcomed. 

_"We'll let you rest. You need it."_ Alex told her with a tight smile on her face. Lena wanted to stay awake, but her body wanted the complete opposite, so she just nodded, defeated, placing the phone back on Alex's hand. 

Alex whispered something to Kara, who seemed to agree with whatever that was as she got up from the armchair. When Lena realized they were both leaving, she grabbed Kara's arm out of instinct. She didn't realize how terrified she was of her new reality until she was about to be left alone, and alone was the last thing she wanted to be, especially in a place that she didn't know. Even with Kara around, she was still scared, but less. 

Because she knew she could trust Kara. So she wanted her to stay. 

And Kara looked back at her, with a slight frown on her face that quickly disappeared once she was able to read Lena's expression. She then looked at her sister over her shoulder, and Alex smiled slightly before waving goodbye and walking out the door, leaving it slightly open. Kara sat back on the chair, her eyes looking at Lena with overflowing worry, unsure of what to do to help her feel better, feel calmer. After a few seconds, she slowly put one of her hands over Lena's, who at first felt uncomfortable by the unusual touch but, as soon as Kara's thumb started to rub the top of Lena's hand, that contact felt good, comforting, and she let herself relax against her pillow, looking at the ceiling once again, ready to let sleep take over her. 

Sleep came easier than she thought. It was night when she closed her eyes, and she was pretty sure it was afternoon already when she woke up again, judging by the orange sunlight that fully covered the white room she was in. A slight feeling of desperation washed over her face when she didn't see Kara sitting by her side anymore, panicking over the possibility she had been left alone, but it all quickly vanished when she found her, standing on the doorstep with her arms crossed in front of her chest, almost like she was guarding the room. Lena followed Kara's blue eyes and caught a man, dressed in a suit, looking out the window while holding a bunch of flowers, tied together by a very pretty red thingy that Lena didn't recognize. 

Somehow, when the man turned towards her and their eyes met, she immediately knew who he was. 

Her brother. 

She wasn't really expecting to see him, at least not so soon. She had no idea of what kind of relationship they had until everything fell apart, if they were close like Kara and Alex, if they were friends. 

"You're awake. Good", He had a deep voice and even deeper eyes, that reminded her of her father's, as if they were the same ones, but in different people, "You don't even know who I am. Do you?"

"I... I do." Lena answered in a low tone, "But I don't know your name."

"Of course not." He laughed but didn't seem actually amused, "Alexander, but Lex is better."

"Lex." She repeated so the name would be kept in her head. They just stared at each other for a moment, both silent, even though Lena felt like she should have many things to say, he was her brother after all but... Nothing came to mind. She was curious though, about who he was, what he did, and if he was able to tell her a little bit about their life before their mother's death, since her father always denied her that.

"Well, no need to try and remember that anyways. I won't be long. I'm only here to avoid bad press."

"What is bad press?" Lena furrowed her eyebrows. 

"It's when journalists say shit about you that can ruin your business. I can only imagine the number of nasty headlines I would get with my name on for not caring about my long lost sister. So I came. And brought flowers" He explained as he put said flowers over Lena's legs. She blinked a few times, swallowing that the answer to the question that she asked herself, about them being close, was no. Otherwise, he would be happy to see her again instead of only being there by fear of speculations. She shouldn't be sad, she didn't know him she didn't remember him, he meant nothing to her. Yet... It hurt, "Now is the part that I wish you well before you go to America and get off my feet for good. You know... Your face is all over the news again, yours and dad's. Once more you two excluding me from your thing. By now, it is just rude."

"He didn't know you were alive." She didn't say that to defend their father, just so her brother would maybe feel better. He thought that he had been abandoned, that their father had chosen Lena over him. When, in reality, he had never stopped mourning his son. 

"Well, lucky me then, imagine having to live as you did." His sentence pinched her like a needle, "I think I spent enough time here so I'll be on my way now. Good luck, you're going to need it."

Lena watched as he walked out of the room after fixing the sleeves of his suit. Kara was still standing by the door, and she didn't lose her chance to stare closely at him when he walked past her. It was clear that Kara disliked Lex and that probably came from an earlier encounter the two of them had. After he finally left, Kara's look towards Lena was a clear apology, as if she was somehow responsible for what happened, but Lena just shook her head, not blaming her in the slightest. She grabbed the flowers that were resting over her legs, she knew a little bit about flowers, those were daisies, midsummer flowers that were resistant enough to blossom even during winters. Their smell reminded her a little bit from what home used to be. And all she wanted was to just forget it. So she threw them into the basket that was placed between her bed and the window, not absolutely sure it was the trash, but hoping it was. 

"Hey! You're awake. How are you feeling today?" Doctor Rojas greeted her, full of energy as she carried a tray with what was probably food on it. 

"I'm good." Lena said as she suspiciously watched her doctor pull some kind of support from the bed's side and then use it to put on the tray. Lena studied its contents, a bowl with some kind of gray mixture inside that smelled sweet and a very small plastic cup with a solid red thing that wiggled. That didn't look like food, at all, yet there was a spoon by its side. 

"Okay, so, remember that little talk that we had about vitamins?" Lena nodded, she remembered even though she didn't understand half of it, "To make those numbers better you need to get some food on you. Since you just woke up, let's start with something light: a bowl of porridge and a little bit of jelly."

Lena sighed, gathering the courage to actually grab a spoon full of what the doctor called porridge. Both Kara and the doctor Rojas were staring at her full of expectancy as she put the spoon inside her mouth. It didn't taste amazing, but it wasn't bad either. The jelly on the other hand was just the strangest thing Lena had ever put on her mouth. The taste reminded her of strawberries, which was good, but the texture was just not what food should feel like. 

Luckily, her doctor didn't make her eat the whole thing as long as she finished the other one, which she did with not much effort. Later that day, that woman in black that Lena had seen when she first woke up in that hospital returned and they were finally introduced: Her name was Lucy, she was Kara's and Alex's friend, who worked at the Center just like Kelly did, but what she did was different. She was the one who went back to her father in the forest. When she asked if Lena wanted to know about it, she said no.

She had to eat again later that day, this time something more familiar, soup, yet the only similarity it had with the soup her father used to make was the name. It tasted a lot better though. 

Alex showed up again before Lena slept, and she brought a paper bag with something that smelled really good inside. Lena wasn't supposed to eat anything out of what her doctor instructed, and eating that doughnut was the first experience Lena ever had of not following the rules. Both were really good. Kara did not approve. But she ate one too. 

The third day in the hospital was more exciting. She was allowed to walk a little bit, to see if the stitches were going to hold. Her legs were sore from spending too much time laying down, but, eventually, walking came back naturally, and the stitches did hold. She walked side by side with Kara and her doctor towards a very big window at the end of the hallway from where she could see a great part of the city. It was breathtaking and made her feel so small. 

The stitches holding meant she would be able to go out there soon. She wasn't sure if that made her happy, scared, or both. 

One thing Lena learned about Kara as the days passed, was that she was a storyteller. Different from her father, who always tried to not say anything other than the extremely necessary, Kara liked details and descriptions, and somehow always had something new to tell Lena, who wasn't very eager to share her own stuff, at least not yet, so she just got herself comfortable in the bed as she listened to Kara talking. Moments like those were the ones where she wished the most she was able to speak her language. The stories were still good, even when told by the voice inside the phone, but they would be even better if she could actually hear Kara telling them, her tone always sounded excited, and sometimes deep when she wanted to make a mystery out of what came next. The only downside was the fluttering in her stomach, that just didn't leave her alone. 

She hoped it was nothing serious. 

On the fourth day, Kara wanted to exchange knowledge in their languages. For each word Lena learned in English, Kara would learn one in Irish. It was probably the first time Lena had truly laughed, mindlessly and loudly, holding her belly as she watched Kara failing miserably to pronounce the words. And Kara just kept smiling at Lena as if making her laugh was actually the whole point on all of that. Luckily for Lena, English was coming easier to her than she thought, the words were simpler, smaller, and by the end of the day, she had a vast 15-word-vocabulary to try not to forget. 

Before she slept, she said goodnight to Kara, in English. She saw Kara's cheeks turn red before she said it back. Lena's cheeks did the same. 

On the fifth day, doctor Rojas entered her room with a wide grin and a clipboard in her hands. She said that the numbers she wanted to grow were finally big enough and that Lena was allowed to go home. Home. It felt weird to now know where that was anymore. And Lena didn't realize how that hospital became her safe space until the idea of leaving was no longer an idea, but something she was just hours away from actually doing. She tried to hide her fear as best as she could while she watched Kara and Alex getting everything ready for them to leave. She got dressed in Kara's clothes, a t-shirt that was a little too big and jeans that, for the first time, actually fit her without the need of tying knots around her waist. Her own clothes were still covered in blood, kept inside a sealed plastic bag, those were her only belongings, and it saddened her that all of her drawings would be left behind.

"Are you ready to leave?" Doctor Rojas asked her when she realized Lena was still standing still by the side of the bed. Alex, Kara, and Lucy were waiting for her by the door all of them with confused looks on their faces. 

"Can you- Can you ask them if it's too late for me to see my father?" She asked her, knowing that her doctor spoke English and could pass on the message. She tried to fight against her will to see her father, but she was pretty sure that, if she left without seeing him at least one last time, she would regret it. 

"Sure." She nodded, asking them what Lena requested. The three women shared silent looks and Lena could tell they would rather say no, but, after Lucy said a few words, the response from the doctor told her otherwise, "They said yes. And that they'll take you there straight from here."

"Thank you." She nodded, inhaling before taking the first step towards the door, for the first time with no intention of walking back inside.

Alex and Lucy were walking in front or her, talking in a low tone as if they were planning what their next steps would be, while Kara was by her side, visibly walking slower than she normally would, just so she could keep up with Lena's rhythm. Lena glanced at Kara, whose eyes were staring at nowhere as she seemed lost in thoughts. Lena wondered what she was thinking, not only at that moment but all the time. 

When they reached the main door, Lena's heart skipped a beat, not only by the sight of the street being so close, but also by the enormous amount of people that she could see through the glass. They were grouped outside, by the door, as if waiting for someone to come out. Some of them holding these black things that produced intense flashing lights. Lena did cover her eyes quickly, but not fast enough to prevent her from being blinded by those strong lights. Alex and Lucy looked at her, then at Kara, who gently put one arm around Lena's shoulders. She didn't understand what was going on but it was unsettling to have them look so apprehensive like that.

The doors opened by themselves when they got close enough, and that large group approached them like ants did whenever they saw something sweet fall on the floor. Lena's heart skipped a beat and she immediately looked down so she didn't have to see the lights or the people, letting Kara guide her towards whenever they needed to go while Alex and Lucy acted as shields to keep those strangers from getting any closer. They were all talking at the same time so, even though they spoke Lena's language, she couldn't understand a single thing other than her name being yelled from some of them. They knew who she was, somehow, and that only made her want to leave that place as soon as possible.

Lena was panting like she had been running when they were finally inside the car. She had been feeding a fear of humans her whole life, and that was the first time she felt like that fear had been justified. 

"You okay?" Kara asked her, and Lena nodded immediately, even though that was a lie. 

Alex and Lucy were on the front seats, with Lucy behind the wheel. They were both looking at Lena, also worried about her well being, but after a nod from Kara, Lucy started the car. It took a while, but slowly Lena's mind left the terrifying experience behind and it was filled with amazement from what she was seeing around her. Real streets, with cars, lights, buildings, stores. Lena's face was really close to the window as she looked outside, wishing they could go slower so she could see each thing better. All of that had always been so close to her during her whole life, it was hard to believe, even though she was seeing it all before her eyes. 

They stopped in front of a very tall building that looked like a giant mirror. When Lena realized they arrived, she studied her surroundings, trying to see if there were more scary people with flashing lights, but the perimeter looked safe, and it felt safe too when Kara's hand gently touched her shoulder. They left the car and, this time, Lena was able to stop for a second and look around her before they were walking towards the main door. Lucy showed something to a man behind a desk, then they proceeded to enter an elevator. It wasn't the first time Lena entered one, she had that experience a couple of days before at the hospital, when she was allowed to walk around and stretch her legs, and it was not something she wanted to do again, walk inside a metal box that was completely sealed while it bounced up and down. It made her feel sick, but she was told there were elevators everywhere so... Not much to do about it. 

When they reached the desired floor, they were met by a woman dressed in a white coat, probably another doctor, who had very bright blue eyes and a warm smile as she shook hands with everyone.

"And you must be Lena." She greeted her last, "I'm doctor Ardeen, the responsible for your father's case. I have... Plenty, to tell you and to discuss with you. Your brother stopped by a couple of days ago and said that... That he didn't want anything to do with Lionel so..."

"I'm not sure I want either." Lena confessed, words felt heavy, but they were honest.

"I understand. We can go to my office to talk, but I'm not allowed to discuss patient matters with any of them, except for gatherer Lane, if you want her to accompany you." doctor Ardeen explained and Lena agreed silently. It would be the first time in days she would be separated from Kara but... It would only be for a while, also Lucy would be with her the whole time. She watched as the doctor told the three women what she had just said to Lena, and they complied without questioning, staying were they were as Lucy and Lena followed the doctor through the hallway. They entered a room that had 'Doctor Imra Ardeen, head of Neuro' written on the glass.

Lucy asked her something while she and Lena sat down on the couple of chairs that were across her desk. The doctor gave her a long answer from which Lena couldn't pick up a single word, as she sat down on her own chair while holding a folder filled with papers.

"These are your father's scans." The Doctor showed her images that looked like blurs and stains. Noticing Lena's confusion, she explained as she pointed at the image with the tip of her "These are like... Pictures of his brain, and this kind of tests are used to identify which kind of split our patients are. This spot right here is the connection lobe. This extra lobe is the result of many years of evolution. The ones who came before us were called homo sapiens, they were a hostile species, not only towards the others, but also one another. With the death of the patient's soulmate, this lobe deteriorates, and it can happen in three different patterns that cause three different kinds of symptoms, that's why we put splits into three categories. But this... I have never seen this before."

Lucy was peaking at the image and, judging by the face she made, she had never seen it either.

"So he's not... A split? Is that possible?"

"No, he is definitely a split. But his deterioration doesn't fit in any of the ones that we've categorized so far. Of course, we've had some special cases before and they were isolated. We call them grey splits, but those were, are, very rare, so we don't exactly broadcast their existence to the population, to avoid panic and all. Your father was mistaken by a red due to his violent behavior, but everything he did was in plain conscience and for a single cause: You. I believe that his deterioration caused him to develop a pathological obsession for you."

Lena blankly blinked as she kept staring at those scans like they were going to give her any answers. Lucy was looking at the doctor, she didn't understand a word that was said but she was given the folder that the doctor was holding. She opened it, her eyes growing bigger and bigger as she read through the lines. 

"I know this is a lot to ask due to everything that you guys went through but... Could you talk to him? While I monitor his brain activity to see if my hypothesis were correct." Lena lifted her eyes to look at the doctor, who didn't seem to see anything out of that situation but an experiment, "It's important that we understand exactly how his deformation affects him, so that if his case becomes a pattern, it can be categorized and we cal be prepared to properly help-"

"I'll do it" Lena cut her off, all that talk wasn't going to make her more willing to talk to him, it actually made her feel something bitter on her mouth, the idea of her father being studied. It made her remember one of the last conversations they had, where he was desperate while screaming he was more than a color code. Ironically, he was going to help create a new one. 

"Alright. Then, follow me, please."

One more ride on the elevator later (this time going down, much to Lena's discomfort) and they reached the destination. The first thing they saw when they crossed the elevator doors, was another door, bigger, sturdier, without a knob and with the sentence "Special Cases" in big black letters above it. It didn't take much to guess that not everyone was allowed to be there, and as Lena wondered how a door without a knob could be opened, doctor Ardeen pulled from the pocket of her coat what appeared to be a card. Squinting her eyes a little bit, Lena noticed it had her name and picture, along with black bars behind it. The Doctor swiped it over some kind of black box by the side of the door, and it opened by itself.

They followed the doctor through the hall that reminded Lena a lot of the hospital she used to be. It had similar rooms, with the windows between them and the hallways, a bed in the middle, few furniture inside. The main difference was a glass wall, that seemed to cut every room in almost half, also, there were no machines, or patients, at least not for a great part of the path, until she saw a man, sitting in front of a table that was leaning against the glass wall. On it, she could see a board, with black and white squares and black and white pieces that he kept moving from place to place. He didn't seem to notice their presence there until the door to his room was opened, he lifted his head slightly, his eyes initially indifferent to whoever was there to bother him, but they quickly widened when he saw Lena.

She almost didn't recognize him. The beard was gone, his hair was shorter and he looked healthier, she could see it in his eyes and his body. There was a chair on their side of the glass wall, so Lena figured that was where she should sit to talk to him, and that was confirmed when doctor Ardeen pointed at it. After a few hesitant steps, she pulled the chair closer and sat down, unable to keep constant eye contact with her father, who, on the other hand, didn't take his eyes off her. She peaked above her shoulder, just to check if Lucy and the doctor were still there and they were, not looking like they intended on going anywhere. 

"I never really told you about chess, did I?" He started, finally locking his eyes out of Lena and shifting them towards the table in front of him, "It's a game. It's not simple, though, it's hard for even adults to learn. But my father taught me when I was very young and, when I first met your mother, after we were mated, it was our favorite thing to do together. I got to teach it to your brother, and, for your 6th birthday, I got you a handmade chess set with red and white pieces... But I never had the change to give it to you. You probably don't remember, but red used to be your favorite color. "

"Where are you going with this?"

"Nowhere. I realized once I got here that I didn't really talk to you that much. Maybe I should have. But I thought that the need to survive together would be enough bonding for both of us."

"Are you suggesting that I left because you didn't tell me enough stories?" She snorted, "And not because you lied to me? And hurt me?"

"Yeah, well, I am lucky that I get to walk again, actually. Even though I don't know how walking is going to be of any use to me anymore. I hope you're really happy with your soulmate and that all of this was worth it. How is communicating with her going, by the way?" He moved one of the taller pieces across the board and knocked the one with a crown down, "You know, the Mating, is a big deal to people, they wait for it their whole lives and picture the most romantic moments with their perfect match. I can only imagine that girl's disappointment when her day came. And now she has a long way down with you. Who doesn't speak her language, who doesn't know the world."

"I shouldn't have come here. I should have just left." She said more to herself than to her father. It didn't matter how hard she tried to build protective walls around her, he always managed to say the exact thing that was able to tear these walls apart. She had been successful in shoving down all of her insecurities towards Kara, who seemed to genuinely be there for her. But she was afraid to be a problem, to be a burden. 

"Wait." He called when she got up from the chair, "You're leaving? Like, to America?"

"Yes."

"So it's like this. I struggled every day of my life for almost twenty years to keep you safe, and you'll leave me behind without even looking back?"

She then looked back to him, who seemed truly in disbelief. She pressed her lips, tears burning in her eyes as she no longer saw the one person she loved inside that man.

"Looking back is just making me want to leave even more." 

And she did. Storming out of that room without looking back a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there, it has been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> the day I finished my exams the last of us part II came out so I had to play it and when I finished I was not in the mood to do anything other than be sad, but later I managed to write the longest chapter of this fic so far to make up for the time you guys had to wait
> 
> and god, after 15 seasons of greys anatomy I still suck at writing hospital parts in my stories, also, I don't know if I ever told you guys, but Lena's chapters are harder for me to write, BUT I hope you liked it anyway.
> 
> I'll stop the talking now, thanks for reading!


	10. Lena

The trip to the airport was quiet.

Lena was looking out the window, her forehead resting on the glass while she watched the buildings and the cars that were left behind as they advanced on the road, trying her best to not think about her father. She was trying to focus on the streets, her forehead crinkled as she analyzed its unfamiliar elements. It amazed her how there seemed to be a separate store for everything: One for ice cream, one for shoes, one for flowers (it shocked Lena that people had to actually buy flowers), a bigger one for books. That was probably the reason why there were almost no gaps between one building and the other, except for a few trees here and there that seemed to have been put there and not just spontaneously grown.

When the car stopped at a red light, she was able to better analyze the stores, each sign was a work of art, pretty letters, various symbols, some more simple made with a few lines and some a little bit more complex, more colors and traces. She noticed a couple that walked out of a shop holding two very different drinks as they smiled and talked to each other. Lena couldn't quite tell what the shop was for, the name in the sign didn't make it that clear and neither did the symbol, a smiling green queen.

The car started moving again before she could analyze it any further. Lucy broke the silence in the car a couple of minutes after that, Lena glanced at her direction, being able to pick up the word 'look' from her sentence. Lena had been around them for a while to start recognizing words. Kara's small classes did help with that, also she couldn't thank her memory enough for never failing her.

Her eyes followed the direction Lucy was pointed at, and she held her breath when she noticed the people gathered in front of what appeared to be the airport. They had pretty much the same strange equipment with the flashing lights that those people at the hospital. Alex shook her head in annoyance, then she drove a few meters further and took a turn, crossing a gate where none of those strangers could be seen.

"Here." She offered Lena a piece of black cloth when they stopped the car. Lena furrowed her eyebrows but took it, unsure of what to do with it.

"It's a cap." Kara told her, slowly taking it from her hands and putting it on Lena's head. Lena grabbed the curved brim that was superficially covering her face, feeling it strange at first as she looked at her reflection on the window, "Looks good."

Lena's hands then moved to her cheeks when she felt them burn. It wasn't even hot outside, quite the opposite actually, the skies were grey and the winds were chill, but it wasn't the first time that something Kara said caused unfamiliar feelings on her. It was probably a soulmate thing.

Alex and Lucy exchanged a few words before they both left the car, Alex opening the door for Lena to leave as well before she had the chance to do it, and she stood by their side as she watched them take suitcases out of the trunk. When they were done, everyone else had their hands full except for Lena.

"Help?" She offered, and the three of them stopped everything they were doing to look at her. They weren't really used to hear her talking, especially in English, still Lena wasn't expecting that reaction, so she asked herself if she messed it up and said it wrong or said something that had nothing to do with what she intended. But she relaxed when she got a response, Alex offering Lena a backpack that she was going to carry on her own shoulder as Lucy closed the trunk.

Lena followed them closely as they walked to the entrance, and when they crossed the automated doors that led to the interior, there were so many screens inside displaying so many things that Lena only realized she had stopped to look at them when she felt Kara's hand on her arm, softly pulling Lena towards her direction. There were names, and numbers, and images, some seemed correlated and some were completely out of context. She saw names of places, times of the day, and then pictures of food?

"Hey." Kara called her attention once again, holding Lena's hand as she slowly dragged her around that huge hall. They waited for a bit while Alex and Lucy talked to people behind a counter, then they proceeded to sit on a few chairs. 'A few' was wrong, actually, there were so many of them that Lena wondered if they ever got all occupied. She glanced at Alex, who was telling Kara something with a tired voice. Kara didn't seem happy with whatever she heard, since she sighed and then checked her phone.

Where they were seated, they were away from most of the information overload that seemed to be all around that place, but there were still a few screens in sight. In one of those, Lena could see two people sitting behind a table, both wearing formal clothes and serious expressions as they spoke, there was no actual sound coming out, but the images that followed spoke for themselves. Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat as she watched the screen displaying a picture of her family that she had never even seen. It had her mother, who had been a faceless person in Lena's mind until that very moment but at the same time looked like Lena expected her to look: Elegant, stunning, serious even though she was smiling in the photo. By her side, a very younger version of her father and then her brother in front of him, holding a little girl with raven hair that was definitely her, even though she had no memory of that picture, or that day. 

It amazed her the powers of pictures, capturing moments like those that could easily be forgotten and could never be described as clearly as the picture showed. It was also insane to think that her family used to have a whole life that she had no clue about.

There was a phrase on the bottom of the screen that said 'A happy new chapter in the Luthor's tragedy: Father and daughter are alive after all'.

Her brother had warned her that her face was "all over the news" but she didn't imagine news being like that: Shown in a huge screen for everyone to see it.

When Kara's eyes followed Lena's, shock washed over her face and eventually the four women were looking at the screen, that switched from an old photo of Lionel shocking hands with a man in front of a tall building with an L on top to newer images (that moved!) and that Lena was able to actually recognize: Her, leaving the hospital and, as much as Kara had shielded her, she was still able to be seen. She hugged her own arms, feeling exposed, uncomfortable, cold out of nowhere, wanting to take her eyes off the screen but unable to look away.

She had been eager to start a new life in a new reality but, so far... Nothing was pleasant.

"Lena." Kara called her softly, and only then Lena realized she wasn't sitting by her side anymore but now standing in front of her, offering a hand. She blinked a few times, finally remembering where she was, who she was with, it scared her how effective the screens were at stealing all of her attention.

"We'll be right back." Kara told Alex and Lucy after a few seconds. Lena had heard that sentence a lot of times while in the hospital, so she already knew what it meant even without being taught. The two of them nodded and after Lena took her hand, she pulled her off her seat, and Lena let herself be carried towards wherever Kara wanted to take her, as long as it was away from those screens, it would be better already.

They stopped in front of what appeared to be a shop, full of things that had absolutely nothing to do with one another, different from what Lena had learned about how shops looked until then. But, since they were inside a closed space, she figured there was no way to fit one separate shop for each of those items, that went from snacks to dolls. She furrowed her eyebrows as Kara gently dragged her inside, asking herself what Kara had in mind as she watched her walk through the hallways while she appeared to be looking for something specific on the shelves. From the outside, she was wondering how would they even find anything in the middle of that mess, but at least things seemed to be separated by what they were, edible stuff closer to the entry, clothes, toys, and stuffed animals placed further inside the shop.

Lena recognized some hats, caps, just like the one she was wearing, but in different colors, sizes even. By their side, there were shirts, many of them with 'Ireland' written in green letters, some had clovers, cups with a yellow liquid inside them. Lena laughed, finding it funny that someone would actually wear shirts like those, but what did she even know about clothing anyway? She spent most of her life wearing her father's clothes, since hers stopped fitting pretty much a year after they arrived at the camp.

"This is a magic board." Kara was by her side again, holding a flat object that had a blue border surrounding a white surface and an orange pen.

"Magic?" Lena questioned, watching curiously as Kara wrote her name on the board, the traced lines becoming small black spots on the white surface. She then dragged a small orange piece from one side to another and her name disappeared as if it was never there. Lena's eyes widened and Kara giggled at her reaction, offering her the pen so she could try for herself. Lena hesitantly took it, thinking a little about what she could write there, she was not really used to writing, just drawing, but she decided to do the same as Kara and wrote her name, messing up a little while doing the 'a' since that surface wasn't what she was used to. Then she erased with the orange magic thingy, "Magic."

Kara smiled, putting the magic board inside a plastic basket before she started to walk again, further into the shop. Lena followed her closely, her head looking right and left as she tried to see everything in the shelves they walked past. She stopped when her eyes caught something familiar, in between two sets of tiny racing cars there was a soap bubble maker, just like the one she had when she was a kid, the same color even. She grabbed it and, as much as it weighed almost nothing, she felt it heavy on her hands. Heavier than that was her head, that in the blink of an eye was overflowing with memories of her childhood that, as hard as it had been, she was still able to have fun, blowing bubbles to the air while running after them in the forest.

There was also this one time that her father kept trying to pop the bubbles with his nose as she blew them towards him. It was a happy memory, that she didn't want to forget, as much as it made her sad.

Kara noticed Lena was no longer following her and walked closer, watching cautiously as Lena put the toy back where it was. Lena could tell Kara was analyzing her by the way her eyebrows were arched, she always did that whenever Lena did or said something she wanted to know more about but, for some reason, she never asked. And Lena was glad, that she was given the time to deal with her feelings alone first and only share them when she was ready.

As much as Kara didn't push her to open up, it was still visible that she was worried. So, to stop that, Lena took a few steps further and started to look at something else on a different shelf, as if saying that whatever was in her mind it didn't bother her anymore, even though it did. It would probably always do, she would just have to deal with it. 

As soon as Kara started walking again, she followed her, this time going through the food shelves, where Kara grabbed a lot more items than Lena was expecting, most of them coming in plastic packages with images that barely looked like food in them. It was interesting how colorful everything was, with huge letters that sure caught attention. Lena studied one of them, narrowing her green eyes at what appeared to be... teeth? What?

She slowly put that back where she found it, as if it could gain life and hurt her somehow, and her attention quickly got caught by something else, which was kind of unnerving, but there was just so much she didn't know that she had no idea of what to look at first. Eventually, Kara had everything she needed, and they walked to the cashier, who smiled automatically at them as if he was so used to do it that it just happened, and Kara handed him a card after he told her how much she owed for... The strange food in plastic packages. Lena wondered how many more uses cards had, other than opening doors and paying for things.

Her eyes shifted to the right where different cards that were displayed in a cylindrical metal shelf by the cashier's side. These were thinner, bigger, and had pictures on its surface, that were so beautiful Lena almost gasped while looking at them. Most of them had green as its main element, many showed castles and other constructions that appeared to be hundreds of years old. She wondered how some of those pictures had been taken, considering the angles were from above. There was this one time when Lena climbed on a tree because she wanted a better view of the river for a drawing. She thought one of the branches was strong enough to hold her weight. It was not. 

"This is a postcard." Kara told her when she realized what Lena was looking at. She looked back at the man behind the counter and asked him something that surely caught him off guard judging by the surprise in his eyes. Whatever Kara asked him, he looked at her as if it was impossible to say no and Lena couldn't blame him, Kara had those... Eyes that were like... Impossible to say no to.

"She said that postcards are like letters. When you travel you can send one of these, that can only be found at the place you traveled to." The man told Lena in her language, clearly confused on why he would need to do that, but helpful nevertheless. Kara thanked him with a wide smile and looked at Lena as if waiting for her to be ready to leave. When Lena nodded, the two of them walked out of the shop, back to where Lucy and Alex were. They both seemed very pleased with the content inside the bag Kara was carrying, and she gave it to them after taking something from the inside that made Alex and Lucy protest.

Lena laughed slightly, their friendly bantering made her incredibly happy somehow. It warmed her heart to see how well they got along, the way they moved and talked along each other was if they had grown up together, which was actually the case for Kara and Alex since they were sisters, but Lucy was a more recent friend and she still seemed so close to them as if she was a part of their family. Seeing her like that sparkled hope in Lena's heart, hope that she, one day, would fit in their family as well as Lucy did.

As she watched them talk, she had been able to not let the fact she was about an hour away from entering a plane bother her, until the hour became minutes when the announcer called their flight. She had had a brief explanation of planes, very fast flying vehicles capable of traveling huge distances while transporting a large number of people and were reportedly the safest way of transportation. Well, it made sense, planes were in the sky, so they would never crash or drift off the road, but if something, even the smallest thing, malfunctioned inside that big machine...

She sighed, trying to get rid of the negative thoughts as she followed the three women towards a huge gate. Between them and said gate, there were a few people that Lena identified as the airport staff judging by their matching clothes. From where they were standing, Lena could see through the window the planes, that looked almost as big as the airport itself, parked outside. Her eyes widened at the sight of that, wondering how something that huge and heavy could fly steadily in the skies. Her eyes shifted back inside when she saw Alex standing still while one of the staff members circled her body with some sort of mechanism on their hands that emitted a constant yet annoying noise. She looked at Kara with furrowed eyebrows and Kara gave her a reassuring smile before stepping forward and going through the same procedure Alex did. When it was Lena's turn, she felt uncomfortable when asked to open her arms but it was glad that whatever that was ended quickly. Her frown grew bigger when Lucy handed their bigger bags away to a stranger before they crossed the blue gate with the number 4 painted on top and started walking through a closed tunnel, that had significantly less light than the rest of the airport, but Lena could still see clearly.

When they crossed the door at the end of the tunnel and Lena noticed the airplane seats, she looked behind her and wondered when they entered the plane since she hadn't actually seen it. Did she miss it?

They were close to the middle of the plane when Kara stopped walking, leaning to the side and gesticulating for Lena to sit first. She tried to do it fast, there weren't many people behind them waiting to walk further into the plane but still, she didn't want to make them wait too much. She ended up hitting her cap's brim on the overhead compartment, not used to wearing caps, or to slightly lean down before taking a seat inside a plane... Or any of it to be honest.

Her face burnt in embarrassment and she just pressed her eyes shut before trying again, this time sitting successfully. Kara sat by her side while Alex and Lucy took the pair of seats behind them, since there were only two per row close to the windows.

Lena took a peek outside, seeing two other planes that weren't so far away from the one she was in. Since she left the camp she hadn't stopped feeling small and that wasn't essentially a bad thing. It was scary, but not bad, especially after so many years of thinking that her whole world would forever be the woods that surrounded it.

"You okay?" Kara asked her and Lena nodded fast, which only made it less convincing. Without saying anything else, Kara slowly moved her hands towards Lena and took off the cap from her head, which made Lena sigh in relief for not needing to wear that anymore. Kara slightly smiled, before watching the movement inside the plane while everyone else took their seats and got ready to fly away. Lena's stomach was swirling and she was feeling cold, which only got worse as the seat belts were put and as the pilot's voice started sounding through God knows where telling them where they were off to and how long it would take to get there.

When the plane started vibrating, Lena squeezed the seat between her sweaty hands. That was normal, right? That was what it was supposed to do. Like the generator at the camp that, when it still worked, it trembled a little while it started.

Kara looked over to her, offering Lena her palm. She didn't even think twice before taking it and she was grateful that she took it when the plane started gaining altitude. Her stomach finally stopped swirling, but then it felt like it detached from the rest of the organs and climbed along with the plane. Kara squeezed her hand slightly when she realized how terrified Lena was, and Lena kept just staring at nowhere as she wished for it to stop.

And eventually, it did. The plane just steadied itself in the skies and it barely felt like it was moving at all. Only then Lena relaxed, letting her body rest against the seat. Kara called her attention, pointing at the window by Lena's side, encouraging her to look through it. This time, she hesitated, but after a few seconds of considering if it was a good idea, she leaned towards the glass and saw the jaw-dropping view of pretty much the whole town down there. She smiled, amazed by how everything looked so small that far up.

Lena spent a while looking out the window, watching the city that barely looked real until it became fully covered by the clouds. Maybe flying wasn't as bad as it looked like.

And she only realized she still hadn't let go of Kara's hand when she attempted to lean down to take something out of her bag. Lena's face burned again, similar to what happened when she was embarrassed but definitely not the same thing as she let go of Kara's hand awkwardly so she could move better. She took a blue and white plastic package out of the bag, trying to make as little noise as she could while she opened it. From the inside, she pulled something dark, small, and round with a white layer in the middle. She offered it to Lena, who took it curiously and flipped it in her hands trying to understand what it was. She watched as Kara ate it before doing it as well, the taste as sweet as the smell.

But it was really good.

"Like it?" Kara asked with a small smile.

"Yes." Lena nodded as Kara gave her another one.

That was only the first of many new things that Lena tried during the trip to National City. Kara showed her earphones, this little thingy that was placed inside one's ear and was able to reproduce sounds to them only. That was how Lena experienced music for pretty much the first time, she used to play around with her pencils while beating them on wood rhythmically, but actual music with actual instruments was something else entirely. At the camp, she once found what was probably a guitar, but it was broken, with cracks all around its structure and the strings nowhere to be found. Kara let Lena choose the songs while she sloppily scrolled down Kara's liked songs on her Spotify, mostly just picking the ones whose cover looked prettier and whose names had words she recognized.

They spent probably a couple of hours on that, Lena choosing the songs while Kara watched her reactions. If Lena noticed that Kara showed any excitement over a song, she would let it play to the end, even if she didn't enjoy it that much, but most of the ones that appeared to be Kara's favorites, Lena liked as well. After a while of just listening to the songs, Kara leaned to her bag again, but this time instead of a snack she pulled the magic board they had bought at the airport and drew four crossed lines on it.

She paused the music for a bit so she could get the help of the translator, then she explained to Lena that was a game called tic-tac-toe. The rules sounded pretty simple, one at a time, they should draw X or O and try to match three at the same time as stopping the other from doing so. Lena furrowed her eyebrows, concentrated as if she was completing a very important task while she watched Kara making her moves on the board, looking for a pattern or logic. Kara easily won the first round, clearing the board and drawing another one. This time, Lena felt like she was beginning to understand what the game was all about, and Kara's eyes widened when she realized that Lena had made it impossible for her to win.

She looked at Lena with a slight surprise and Lena shrugged, not really impressed with herself. And when they played again, Lena won again. And again. And again. Until she let Kara win one, and the look of distrust in Kara's face as she drew the X that gave her the victory pretty much gave away that Lena had been busted. Still, she lifted her hands to say she was innocent, and Kara just laughed at that, which made Lena's heart warm up instantly.

When it got darker outside and the lights were dimmed, Lena peeked behind her, slowly so the earphone wouldn't fall off. Alex and Lucy were both sleeping peacefully, Alex's head resting against the window while Lucy's was leaning on her shoulder. Lena then looked at Kara, who appeared to be tired but maybe she was as anxious as Lena to get any rest. Still, their tiredness got the better of them eventually, especially with the help of the music, that was able to calm down their nerves a little bit. When Lena opened her eyes again, the lights were on inside the plane, but it was even darker outside than before she last checked.

She looked at Kara, whose eyes remained closed until the pilot's voice started sounding again, just like it did before they took off, but this time he was announcing their arrival in National City. Lena inhaled heavily, her thoughts were all over the place. She was officially very far away from what she thought was home and was about to enter an even more different world. Kara's world. Where she would start her life from the beginning.

The feeling of going down was definitely worse than the feeling of going up, it reminded Lena of the elevator, which was something she also didn't enjoy. Final thoughts on flying? Good. While in the skies.

After that things happened in a blur, they left the plane while following the instructions of the staff, then walked towards a place where a lot of other people were leaving with their baggage. Alex asked Kara to wait outside with Lena while Lucy and her handled recovering their bags. She also asked Kara to call someone, but who that someone was Lena wasn't able to understand. Maybe the person who was supposed to pick them up?

Meeting more people.

That was something that Lena had yet to get used to, she still had mixed feelings about it, but, so far, most of the people she met she ended up fond of. And Kara seemed to be surrounded by nice people, so there was nothing to be worried about. It took a while, but eventually, Alex and Lucy returned with their things and they led the way outside of the airport. Lena noticed that it looked very similar to the one in Ireland, maybe bigger, but it followed the pattern with the signs, the screens, and the doors with numbers above them.

Outside, they stopped walking and Lucy said goodbye as she hugged them, even Lena, kind of pulling her unexpectedly but Lena's guard was down anyways. She headed to the opposite way of the street, and her absence felt strange at first, Lena was already used to having the three of them around her, but Lucy lived in a different place and was going straight home. It was then that it hit Lena: From that moment on, everyone was going to keep living their lives and Lena had to just... Fit in the best way she could.

From afar, Lena recognized Kelly, who was leaning against a black car as she looked at her phone's screen. As if she felt the stare, she looked up and an instant smile grew on her face as she opened her arms to wrap Alex in a hug. They spent a while in each other's arms, then she proceeded to hug Kara almost as tightly as she hugged Alex. Her eyes widened slightly when she looked at Lena, a reaction that looked a lot like Alex's when she had seen for the first time what Lena actually looked like. Different from Lucy, Kelly actually asked if she could hug her too.

With the reunion out of the way and the baggage inside the car, the three of them finally left the airport, Kelly behind the wheel driving them home. Lena hadn't seen how Kara's house looked from the outside, so she was pretty surprised when her eyes met the two-story house that probably fit five of the cabin where she used to live with her father. She left the car with trembling hands, following Kara as closely as she could while they walked towards the front door, their house was the only one that had the lights on, so it was probably late already.

When Lena walked through the door, the feeling was different than she expected. She had seen that house before during the time she spent inside Kara's body, and that slight familiarity with the place and its people made her heart settle a little bit. A woman that Lena remembered to be Kara and Alex's mother ran from the kitchen, wearing an apron and fluffy gloves as she hugged her daughters with a relieved expression on her face. Her husband appeared just a second after she did, not only hugging them as well but also kissing their foreheads, a gesture of love and fondness that surprised Lena.

She wondered if it would've been like that with her own family if everything hadn't fallen apart.

"Mom, Dad, this is Lena." Kara said, even though, just like Kelly, Lena had already met them before. But Lena had barely spoken to them anyways. Did they even speak at all? Not that she remembered.

Eliza held Lena's shoulders, saying something that was beyond her understanding, but the smile on Eliza's face brought Lena a sense of safety that she couldn't quite describe. Jeremiah was more reserved, but not less warm, giving Lena a welcoming smile and a tap in the back as he also said something beyond her English skills at that moment. The reception certainly blew Lena away, who thought she would feel like she didn't belong there.

Instead, she felt... Wanted.

Whatever Eliza had been cooking for them, they decided to leave it to the following day, all of them tired after their uncomfortable few hours of sleep. Lena, as always, followed Kara's lead as she walked upstairs, pulling her heavy bag behind her and walking past the doors in the hallway until they reached the one with Kara's name. Lena touched the letters, the same way that she did on the first time she had seen them, but it felt different against her own skin.

"Tired?" Kara asked, standing before the bed whose sheets were different than the ones Lena had seen when she was there. Lena nodded, actually feeling like she hadn't slept in days. It was weird to feel so tired, especially after spending so many hours just sitting. Kara pulled her phone and typed a few quick words, " _I'll be across the hallway if you need me._ "

The idea of not having Kara around made Lena unbelievably anxious. But she knew she wouldn't have Kara all to herself at every second of every day, so she pressed her lips, nodding once again.

Kara opened her bag, searching for something for a few seconds before finally finding it. She offered it to Lena, who furrowed her eyebrows as she analyzed the object. It was that soap bubble maker, that Kara probably took while Lena was distracted by other things (which was what she was doing most of their time inside that shop). Lena just stared at it, confused about why Kara even took that in the first place. Kara then lifted the magic board, drawing a few lines on it before turning it towards Lena. She made a drawing of a little house on its surface.

Understanding, Lena took the soap bubble maker, smiling slightly as she held the small object on her hands.

It was so she could have a little piece of home.

Maybe she needed it. 

"Goodnight, Lena." Kara smiled as she walked slowly towards the bedroom's door. 

"Goodnight, Kara."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello? Is anyone still here?
> 
> I've returned after an unannounced and unexpected one-month hiatus that I honestly have only writer's block to blame. I had been staring at this chapter up until the part where Lena and Kara are inside that shop for weeks without being able to write anything past that I didn't hate. 
> 
> I don't know if I ever told you guys this but Lena's chapters require a LOT more work, because I have to find the balance between making you guys feel like Lena does around things that she doesn't know AND not confusing you guys too much with descriptions. Also, there's the language barrier between Lena and everyone else, but luckily Lena is a genius so we'll be saying goodbye to the robotic lady that knows languages soon. 
> 
> It's so... strange to feel blocked right at the part that I wanted to write the most: Kara and Lena together, Lena discovering the world, they inevitably falling in love and, of course, more about the Center, the splits, and everything that I didn't really dive into yet. 
> 
> But you guys have motivated me so much to write this, I can't even begin to explain how much your comments and your kudos mean to me, and I don't want to let you down and leave it unfinished, so I promise I'll try my best to give a conclusion to the story, even if I don't upload like, weekly. After I was able to finish up this chapter, I already felt way more inspired to write the rest. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	11. Kara

Kara closed the door slowly, exhaling heavily as she rested her back against it, feeling for the first time in days like she was finally able to properly breathe without that anxious swirl inside her stomach. 

She knew Lena was totally safe at the hospital, surrounded by people who were perfectly capable of taking care of her, but she couldn't stop her thoughts from keeping her awake most nights, as if as long as they were away from home there was still a chance that Lena could be somehow taken from her, that she could be in danger. Maybe what she went through in the forest had more impact on her than what she allowed herself to admit. 

"Dear?" She heard Eliza calling her from across the hallway, "I know you're probably tired, but what about some hot chocolate before bed?"

"Sounds great." Kara smiled weakly at her. She was more than ready for a long night of proper sleep on an actual bed, but she had barely talked to Eliza during their trip. Keeping her posted on what was happening there had been mostly Alex's job, so it was clear Eliza wanted to hear from her a little bit, "I'll be right down." 

Eliza nodded, gaining a head start as she walked down the stairs. Still a bit uneasy about leaving Lena alone, Kara took one last look at the bedroom door before taking the first step away from it and crossing the hallway, trying to walk as quietly as she could, aware that there was a baby sleeping and Alex and Kelly wouldn't be able to get any rest that night in case Cassie woke up. She could smell the chocolate from afar, and when she reached the kitchen, Eliza had just finished pouring both their mugs. 

"Come here." Eliza called, one mug in each hand as she carefully walked towards the living room. When Kara understood where she intended to go, she surpassed her mother and opened the double doors that took to the backyard deck, the chill wind from the night touching her warm cheeks. Eliza was the first one to sit down on the outdoor couch, giving Kara her mug as she took her place by her mother's side. Just the familiarity of it all was able to make Kara relax a little bit more. Deck nights had been a thing between Alex, Eliza, and Kara for a few years now, nights where they would just sit there and genuinely talk, vent, ask for advice, or just be in each other's company, "So... Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just... Happy to be home." Kara told her, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, closing her eyes for a moment as the warm and sweet taste of it felt like a tight hug, "Oh, God, I missed this. I drank hot chocolate every morning since Alex cut down my caffeine but none of them were like yours."

"So I heard." Eliza laughed, amused, "Problems sleeping?"

"A little."

"Does that have anything to do with you running alone into a dark forest?" The disapproval was evident on her mother's face, "I heard about that too."

"I can't believe Alex snitched me."

"You used to do that to her all the time." Eliza smirked and Kara looked at her as if she was offended, but Eliza wasn't lying. Her relationship with Alex was probably the best it could be, but that still didn't erase the facts that they were sisters, so they fought, they teased and they snitched, especially Kara during Alex's teenage years when she went through a rebel phase while Kara was still a kid who wanted her sister to play with her and became really frustrated when she didn't. 

"Not my fault she refused to follow basic rules and was a terrible bathroom sharer." Kara rolled her eyes. 

"Kara." Eliza touched her shoulder gently, not wanting her to deviate from the actual subject while the last thing Kara wanted was to talk about it, "When your sister told me what happened I lost my sleep too, even though I knew that you and Lena were safe and sound already... Just to imagine some... Man out there almost hurting my daughter in any way... I never thought I would have to worry about something like that."

"I'm sorry. I know what I did was dangerous. But... I never felt so desperate in my life. I didn't know what to do I just knew that I had to do something. Even if that meant risking it all."

"I know, dear. I'm just glad everything worked out in the end."

"Me too."

"And how is Lena? Poor girl, I can't even begin to imagine what she has been through."

"She doesn't talk about it. I mean, maybe she's waiting until we can properly have a conversation to open up, but I don't know." Kara explained. She was willing to just be there for Lena and respect her space, but she was worried, "As much as she pretends she is just fine, it's obvious that she isn't."

"Let's give her some time to process everything. I'm sure she'll talk when she's ready." Eliza gave Kara a reassuring smile, "I noticed you let her sleep in your bedroom. I had the guestroom ready for her."

"Yeah, well, I just thought she would feel better sleeping somewhere she kind of already knows, at least for tonight. The last few days have been way too much for her."

"Oh." Eliza nodded slowly, "That's very thoughtful."

"It's crazy how much I care about her already." Kara confessed, her cheeks flustered as she lifted her eyes and looked at the sky through the glass roof above them, "And I don't even know if it's me or if it's our connection but I can't look at anyone else, think of anything else. And it's not even in a romantic way yet it's just... I really want her to be okay."

"What do you think of her so far?" Her mother's curious tone made Kara's mind go back a few years to when Alex was mated. The three of them sat down together with their steamy mugs as they listened to Alex babble with bright eyes about how her first date with Kelly had been. 

"To be honest, I don't know much about her. I've been focused on just trying to make things better, make her laugh, distract her, and she just... Lets me." Kara sighed, "But... I like the way she's open to trying things, even if she's afraid. She looks like she's always observing and analyzing everything, and I swear it's like I can see a whole world inside her eyes whenever she is looking at something she doesn't know and it's trying to figure out what that is." When Kara noticed how far she had gone, she blushed and looked away as Eliza laughed amusedly, "Also she is very good at tic-tac-toe."

"Don't worry, dear, you two will have plenty of time to get to know each other." Eliza told her after a sip of her drink, "And now I finally won't see my kitchen overflowing with anxiety pastries anytime soon."

"Ha." Kara rolled her eyes as she laughed. 

"Okay, off to bed now, it's getting late. I'm sorry for keeping you this much, it's just... I'm really happy that you're okay, that you're finally with your soulmate and as much as things from here may be a little bit hard to go through, never forget you don't have to do it alone. Okay? We are all here." Eliza pulled Kara for a tight hug that Kara didn't know she needed. It was one more of those moments where she felt really lucky to be a part of the Danvers family. There were way more potential parents than potential children in foster care, and Kara could literally have ended up with anyone, but destiny took her there, to that house, to that family. And she was really grateful for that. 

"Thanks, mom." Kara whispered against Eliza's embrace. 

And, for a while, she was able to rest. Her body welcomed the comfortable mattress bellow her after several days of sleeping on a chair and she could almost feel each of her muscles relaxing when she laid down. But it was only a matter of time until her subconscious started to haunt her again, with another twisted version of the nightmare she started having after she met Lena. They usually followed a pattern, beginning with her walking through the claustrophobic endless woods and ending with Lena dead in different sick ways. The worst part about them was that as soon as she fell asleep it was like her brain completely forgot all about the nightmares that happened every night and she saw herself stumbling across the forest with no clue of what would happen next, relieving the terror all over again as if it was the first time. 

She knew it was still early when she opened her eyes and saw the navy blue shade of the sky through the narrow open space in the curtain that covered the window. She was slightly panting as she pulled her phone from the nightstand by the bed's side, confirming when the screen turned on that it was indeed early when she saw that it was still just a few minutes past five in the morning. 

Her body was still tired but she was done with sleeping, getting up from the bed and stretching for a bit before walking out of the bedroom, with a steamy mug of black coffee in mind. After a few seconds of internal debate on whether she should or not check on Lena before she went downstairs, she decided to just take a peek to see if she was okay, carefully opened the door that still squeaked despite her efforts to make no noise.

She was surprised to find the bed empty but quickly found Lena on the window seat, green eyes staring outside as she held her knees close to her abdomen. She noticed the door was open and looked towards Kara's direction, giving her a bright smile, genuinely happy to see her, and Kara, not ready for that, blankly blinked a few times before she managed to smile back. She decided to walk inside, leaving the door slightly open before approaching Lena, sitting across from her and looking outside, just like Lena was doing before. There wasn't much going on, the streets were empty and quiet, most of the houses had its lights still off. 

"Why are you up so early?" Kara curiously asked through the translator. She hoped Lena actually got some rest, unlike herself. 

" _I used to wake up with the sun._ " Lena told her. It was the first time that Lena had directly told her something about herself, so Kara took it gladly. Not wanting to bother her during what could be some sort of morning ritual (that had most certainly already been broken by the pain medication that made Lena's sleep schedule all crazy) she just sat there, the two of them looking out the window as the sky was lighted up by the sun that rose from the horizon's line. 

Kara smiled at the sight of a day beginning, asking herself how, in twenty-five years of her life, she had never actually stopped to watch the sunrise, while Lena most likely did it everyday. She caught Lena staring at her when she looked away from the window, and both of them blushed at the awkward situation.

"Breakfast?" Kara suggested, and Lena furrowed her eyebrows, probably wondering what 'breakfast' stood for, and Kara thought of another way to say it, "Uh... Morning food?"

"Oh, okay. Breakfast." She said almost accent-less as she nodded and Kara smiled slightly, always amazed by how surprisingly fast Lena was learning English, since it was mostly different from her mother tongue. They both got up from the seat and Kara led them downstairs, then walked to the kitchen where she gathered everything she needed for a coffee and put all the items by the coffeemaker's side. She glanced at Lena, who took a seat on one of the stools that surrounded the counter and rested her head on her hands while she attentively observed Kara as she loaded the machine. 

Kara wondered what to make them for breakfast, she didn't really know what Lena liked to eat since all she had seen her eat was hospital food. However, she was afraid of what the answer would be if she asked, so she tried to think of something easy. Pancakes maybe?

With the coffee finished, she poured some for them both and gave Lena a mug, who inhaled heavily as she welcomed that unique smell that only coffee seemed to have. Kara watched as she took the first sip, Lena's expression was uncertain, as if she was still deciding if she liked it or not, so she decided to take one more.

"So? Do you like it?" Kara asked with expectancy. She was curious to see how much Lena and her would end up having in common, not that being soulmates meant having the same taste for everything, she knew that with all of the couples around her, but she was still eager to find out. Even though most things Lena was yet to experience and discover, Kara felt more than happy to show them to her. 

"Yes." Lena nodded slowly as she drank a little bit more, "Yes. It's good."

"It's coffee. Many people drink this to start the day." Kara explained through the translator, "Want to help me make pancakes?"

"I'm not... uh... good." Lena tried to speak by herself, "Making food."

"Oh, that's okay. We'll do it together." Kara encouraged her with a smile. She wanted Lena to be a part of things, even things as small as making breakfast, could help her feel like she belonged. 

She still looked insecure about it though, but she agreed with a nod. Kara then started collecting the ingredients she needed: flour, powder, milk, eggs. As she put them all on the counter in front of Lena, her eyes widened, and Kara wondered what was on her mind. Was she scared it would be too hard? Was she shocked by the amount of food? Both?

Stop overthinking this, Kara said to herself, grabbing a glass bowl to put the ingredients inside. She started with breaking an egg with the help of the bowl itself, then invited Lena to try. 

"A little bit stronger." Kara told her after Lena hesitantly tried twice with no success. Lena pressed her lips, trying once again, this time more firmly. When the egg cracked, she widened her eyes, "There you go."

Lena smiled, genuinely happy with her success. Together, they added the rest of the ingredients, Kara guiding her on how much of each to put and then mixing everything together until it was smooth enough. Not much later, they were ready to begin the part that Kara liked the most about making pancakes: Flipping them. She was very decent at it if she could say so herself, being able to make a few tricks and still keep them perfectly cooked on both sides. 

She approached the stove to fill the pan with the mixture and Lena practically jumped to her side, their arms touching by the proximity, making Kara's stomach flip for a split second at the sudden physical contact, but Lena didn't seem to mind it, all the insecurity towards helping Kara with breakfast had been replaced by excitement and curiosity about what would happen next. 

Kara smiled at Lena's little gasp of surprise when she boosted the pancake out of the pan and made it land back perfectly on the other side. When that one was done, she put it onto the plate and moved on to the next.

"Can I try?" Lena asked after she watched Kara flip two other pancakes. 

"Yeah! Sure!" Kara wasn't really expecting Lena to want to do that since it was visibly harder than cracking an egg and there were many chances that it would go wrong, but the worse it could happen was the stove getting dirty... Or Lena getting hurt, so Kara pulled a pair of heart patterned baking gloves that were hanging in front of the stove and carefully put them on Lena's hands, making her eyebrows furrow in confusion, "Protection. Just in case."

Kara was watching anxiously as Lena stared at the pan, extremely concentrated while she waited for the right time. When she lifted it, Kara's mouth went from an apprehensive thin line to a surprised 'O' shape as her jaw dropped the moment Lena perfectly flipped the pancake as if she had been doing it for as long as Kara had, and the first thing that came to her mind was I'm going to marry this woman.

Lena looked over to Kara, looking for her approval, and Kara blinked blankly a couple of times as she tried to recollect herself before managing to give her a thumbs up followed by a proud smile. She was more than happy to let Lena handle the rest of the pancakes while she picked up some fruit and the maple syrup bottle.

"Good morning." Eliza greeted them as Kara was covering her plate of pancakes with the syrup. She stopped walking when she noticed the amount of syrup that was clearly disproportional to the number of pancakes, shaking her head in disgust and disapproval, "My God, Kara." 

"Good morning, mom." Kara smiled widely to get off the hook and Eliza rolled her eyes, walking towards the coffee machine to pour some for herself, she never actually had any food for breakfast, claiming that eating that early in the morning made her feel nauseous, so Kara didn't even think about grabbing her a serving, "You're up early."

"There are four wedding orders due this month so we have plenty to do at the shop, I'll have to open early." Eliza explained, but she looked rather excited than tired, she had already showered and dressed to go to work, "And what about you two?"

"Lena is an early bird." Kara told her, glancing at Lena, who reacted at the mention of her name. Kara could tell she was tense with Eliza's presence there, as much as her mother had been trying to act casually, "And I might be... Jet lagged." 

"Dear... I don't think she'll like that much syrup." She grimaced as she watched Kara flooding Lena's plate. 

"I don't know how you guys _don't_ like it." She shrugged, grabbing a handful of blueberries and spreading them over both hers and Lena's pancakes, "Here, Lena. Better than flipping pancakes is eating them." 

Lena took off the baking gloves so she could properly hold the fork, but she didn't move at first, staring at the food in front of her and unsure of what to do. Luckily, Kara noticed it fast, cutting a piece for herself first so Lena would have an idea of how she was supposed to do it.

After she tasted it, she seemed to think about the flavor for a moment, the corners of her mouth covered in syrup as she gave Kara a thumbs up in her most adorable self, making her laugh. 

That was when it hit Kara she had already fallen for Lena way more than she initially thought. 

"Okay, I'm off to work." Eliza announced as she put her empty mug inside the sink, "Maybe you should get Lena acquainted with the neighborhood."

"Yeah." Kara nodded. She hadn't really made plans for the day and it would be good for Lena to know a little bit more about her new home, "That's a good idea actually."

"Also, I made her a bag with new towels and a toothbrush, they are inside the wardrobe in the guest- well, her room."

"Thanks, mom. Really." Kara thanked her with a truly grateful smile, it didn't even cross her mind to get those basic things arranged for Lena, so far the hospital had provided everything she needed, but luckily, Eliza's mom's instincts were there to make up for that.

"Bye, girls, have a good day." She squeezed Kara's shoulder with one hand and Lena's with the other before walking out of the kitchen. Lena stared at the door from where Eliza left for a while, long enough for Kara to notice there was something on her mind. She was, as always, a fortress of silent thoughts. 

When they were all finished with the pancakes, Kara asked if Lena would like to go out and see a little bit of National City. She happily agreed, so Kara went upstairs with her to get the bag Eliza had prepared plus some jeans and a shirt that would probably fit her, adding a note to self that they should probably go out to shop for clothes soon. She let Lena shower first, using that time to wash the dirty dishes from their breakfast, also leaving a post-it with 'there are pancakes inside' followed by a smiley face hanging on the fridge's door for when someone else woke up. 

After they were both ready and inside the car, Kara put her phone on the holder so the translator could be easily reached in case they needed it while drawing a route around the neighborhood inside her mind. National City was considerably big and Kara had walked around a lot looking for stories and doing interviews, so she knew a lot of places. Maybe it was better to start with the important ones, the ones where Kara went frequently, so their first stop was at Noonan's. 

"Okay, so this restaurant here has a story." Kara started, pressing the record button on the translator's screen, "One night, mom and dad had to go away to do something family related, I don't remember it very well, I was like, twelve, and Alex was supposed to make dinner for us. The only thing other than snacks and cake ingredients was a steak, that she managed to burn to ashes because she was way more interested in her phone. With our only real food ruined, she decided to order some sandwiches and a lot of fries from here. It's my favorite restaurant to this day, and the best part about it, is that CatCo is right around the corner.", She drove a few meters and turned left as the translator passed on everything she said to Lena, her head falling backward as she laughed with the story. Kara smiled at that, every single time she made her laugh felt like a whole life's accomplishment, "This huge building right here is CatCo, but you would've guessed by those giant glowing letters up there. When I started working here as Cat Grant's assistant, I wanted to give up every day. There were days she pretended I was invisible, so much that I stopped in front of a mirror once in a while to check if my reflex was still there. But I worked my way through her and, with her help, I became a reporter, which I always wanted to be."

"She's... Bad, then.", Lena said when the audio was over.

"No, no. She only pretends she is. That's kind of her thing." Kara shrugged, "She's actually a sensitive and caring person on the inside. Like, on the very very very inside."

After Lena's light laugh at the amount of 'very' in that sentence, Kara decided it was time to move on to another spot. She took Lena to National City's park, pointing towards the Ferris Wheel at the amusement park through the window that could also be seen from there, telling her that they would definitely go there someday. She also parked in front of the bar, the one where she always gathered with her friends on Fridays or on special occasions, Lena was very intrigued to hear about alcohol and its effects, especially after Kara told her one of the drunken embarrassments she went through. After that, Kara had a final destination in mind, and on their way there she showed Lena some useful spots that were within walking distance from the house in case she ever needed them, supermarket, pharmacy, general store. Lena's green eyes seemed to be glowing the whole way and appeared to get even brighter while she heard Kara's descriptions of each place and her interesting stories involving every single of one them. 

"Final stop, mom's cake shop.", Kara pointed towards it with her head and Lena leaned closer to the window so she could see it better. She thought for a while about what to tell Lena about that place, she used to love going there and there were just so many memories she held on to, from the silly ones like when her mother closed the shop on one of her birthdays and they made a cake that was the size of a castle together (and then had to give parts of it to everyone who lived in their street because there was no way they could eat it all), to the definitive ones like that one time she was dismissed early from school when her teacher got sick and played interviewer with the costumers of the shop which ignited her dream of becoming a reporter, just the slight memory of that day made her smile to herself, "This place has way too many stories for me to pick just one to tell you about."

"Then tell me all." Lena said after the audio was played, a small smile grew on her face after she said it, and Kara's heart felt like it was made of ice and had just been thrown inside a room temperature drink. Lena pressed the microphone button before she spoke next, " _But keep them for when I can understand them fully._ "

She only managed to nod, pressing her lips together as she turned the engine on once again. Lena's sentence caught her completely off guard, and she had already realized by then that she may have fallen for Lena a little bit faster than expected, but, after that sentence, she was a mess. Oh boy.

"Where now?", Lena curiously asked, and Kara slightly turned her head towards her. She knew there was a long way down before Lena was even close to ready to dive in anything regarding the two of them, and Kara was more than willing to be there for her during the whole process, starting with making her feel like she belonged. 

"Now..." Kara sighed, "We're going home." 

Lena stared at her for a second, then nodded as she swallowed that Kara's home was now her home as well. And as she rested her back on the car seat, a small smile brightened up her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imagine when they have kids and they ask "mom how did you guys fall in love" and kara's answer will be"when your mom flipped a pancake in front of me"
> 
> hope you enjoyed the well deserved fluff! thanks for reading!


	12. Lena

On Lena's second day with the Danvers, she gave Kara her room back. 

As much as she surely appreciated Kara's kindness letting her sleep there and as much as Kara's bedroom was probably the coziest and welcoming place Lena knew, it wasn't hers, at all, and she was reminded of that by every object, every wall, and every corner. She already had that feeling while being in other spaces inside the house, like she was an impostor who didn't belong, so she was happy to switch rooms and not wake up surrounded by someone else's things for once. Of course, the guestroom was still... Not hers, but at least it was more neutral with its beige walls and the pair of forest paintings hanging over the double bed that had been placed close enough to the window so she could sit there and watch the lights of the city at night. She also had space bellow it to put the small cactus Eliza had given her so she would have some company, as well as the soap bubble maker Kara had gotten her at the airport. The only two things that Lena could actually call hers. 

On her third day there, Kara and Kelly took her to the mall to buy clothes. She wasn't really excited about that, she knew she would have to do it eventually, Kara's clothes fit her well but not perfectly, but that didn't bother her since she couldn't even remember when was the last time she wore clothes that were actually hers. However, the main reason why she wasn't looking forward to it was that she was intimidated by the fact that she would have to choose clothes for herself, for the first time. She had no idea of what she liked or not, what looked good on her or not, she never had to really worry about that since there had never been more than just three shirts to choose from and that choice normally depended on the weather only. Also, while everyone else had their whole life to figure that out, she was supposed to do it during a single afternoon at the mall. 

From the outside, the structure reminded Lena of the airport, a huge concrete build with top to bottom windows occupying most of its walls, but there were screens on the outside as well, displaying commercials that could surely be seen from a few miles away and switched from time to time. Lena thought that was pretty clever, being able to show limitless advertising using the space of only one, and her curiosity towards technology seemed to grow more and more as she discovered the world. Inside, more screens and, much to Lena's discomfort, people, a lot of them, carrying bags and talking loudly as they walked past the stores at a slow pace so they could see as much as they could through the glass without actually having to enter. 

In the first store, Lena held her breath as she stared at the world of possibilities before her, with no clue of where to begin in the middle of all those styles, colors and sizes. Luckily, Kara seemed to always know exactly what to do to make things easier for her, asking Lena if she would rather have her and Kelly bring her some pieces for her to choose from instead of trying to do it all alone. That arrangement made things incredibly more bearable than Lena expected they would be and after a few suggestions, Kelly and Kara seemed to be closer and closer to finding out Lena's unknown, even to herself, taste, so that ended up being a self-knowledge experience as well, and Lena ended up enjoying that. She found out she was not a fan of patterns, that darker shades looked way more appealing to her than lighter ones, she loved the comfortable texture that only sweaters seemed to have and jeans somehow looked good with everything.

On her fourth day there, she really missed being able to draw and that led to the first time she asked for something since she arrived. Kara's reaction was a literal 'say no more' before she abruptly got up from the couch where she was sitting while reading something from her work and came back with a closed package of plain white paper in one hand and a wooden box full of colored pencils that Lena wasn't even familiar with but she was very excited with the idea of drawing with colors and pleasantly surprised with the smell of new that those papers sheets emanated. After that, she explored the shapes and the lines that something thinner and more accurate than charcoal allowed her to achieve for hours. 

On her fifth day there, Eliza entered her room holding a transparent plastic bag. It took Lena a couple of seconds to recognize it, but she then remembered those to be her old clothes, still wrapped in the same way that the hospital gave to her, still covered in blood. She could see the discomfort in Eliza's face, as well as worry as she asked Lena what she wanted to be done with those. Lena was sure that if they were washed they would probably be cleaner than they ever were, but no soap would be able to make her forget what happened while she was wearing them. So, when she was about to tell Eliza she could throw them away, she remembered there was something inside her pockets. She opened the package, putting her hand inside and feeling the dry blood scratching her face as she took a folded piece of paper from inside. When she unfolded it, she saw it was a little bit smudgy on the edges, but she could still see what it was: The drawing she made of the girl in her dream. The girl that was very much real. The girl that now slept across the hallway from her. The girl who never failed to make her smile. Kara. She wanted to give her that drawing someday... Just not yet. 

Lena sighed, giving Eliza back the package with the clothes and telling her she didn't need them anymore. She didn't feel like holding onto anything regarding her past. But the drawing... She wanted to hold onto it for a while. 

On her seventh day, Lena was finally starting to feel familiarized with her new life. She was getting accustomed to the soft texture of her pillows, the smell of clean of her sheets, the creaks caused by the weight of her feet on the floor, the city noises that never ceased and were completely different from the forest noises: The former involved car engines, sometimes honks, other times music coming from the neighbor's houses while the later had birds singing, squirrels breaking sticks while walking, and the water's current on the river. 

She was also getting used to living in a full house, which meant there was always someone somewhere but... She liked it. It surprised her that she was extremely fond of pretty much everything that happened differently from the things at the camp, from the meals, that instead of being quiet and fast were filled by each member of the family telling about their day and just generally chatting during the whole thing, to the routine that, instead of always following the very same steps, changed from day to day for multiple reasons: sometimes they had different schedules, sometimes they made changes in their plans, nothing was set in stone like it used to be. 

She was no longer startled by the sound of Alex's early alarms, liked being greeted downstairs by the characteristic smell of coffee every morning, and the constant staring at her every move that came from baby Cassie had finally stopped and, if she was honest, they both started to get used to each other's presence pretty much simultaneously, a human that small and that unpredictable made her slightly anxious in the beginning. There were still a few things to get used to though, like hot showers and the great majority of the food, but she was making progress and slowly feeling like everything was falling into place.

Until Kara announced that something she called her "mating leave" was over and she needed to go back to work on the next day. Not that Lena didn't feel safe around the Danvers, they had been nothing but kind to her, trying their best to make her feel like a part of their family at every possible moment but, truth was, she didn't really know how to act without Kara guiding her, so the thought of being around them by herself made Lena uncomfortable. 

The first day was the hardest, she watched Kara leave the house after a wide grin and a wave of goodbye and spent the rest of the day with a constant swirl in her stomach as she waited for her to return. Since she arrived at the Danvers house, she felt like the time passed faster, as if now that she was actually able to keep track of the time instead of relying on just the sunlight made the days smaller. But that particular day seemed to never end. Fortunately for her, Kara's absence became gradually easier to endure, she still missed her, that feeling of empty space by her side never really left her mind, but Lena started to make something useful out of those hours of loneliness. She studied English for many hours, even though Kara had promised her she would find her a good English teacher who had at least a grasp of Irish (and that was no easy task so it was taking her some time), she didn't want to wait until then to start learning. She mostly did that by reading books. She found out she absolutely loved fantasy, magic, adventures, and learning a language while she read those amazing stories felt like a bonus and not the point of it all. After that, she liked to spend some time in a thing called Google that appeared to have the answers to every single question Lena had in mind, and sometimes the answers led to more questions and before she realized Kara was home already. Lena usually searched for explanations: _How do screens work? How does the internet works? From where does the fire in the stove come from? How do fridges make ice? Why aren't the letters in the keyboard sorted in alphabetic order? What do people who work in a magazine do?_

On her eleventh day there, Lena met Winn. Kara told her he worked as a freelance translator at CatCo a few times and, lucky them, not only he also worked as a private teacher for some extra money but he also spoke intermediate Irish. He showed himself to be a very patient and sweet guy, always with a kind smile on his face as he went through the basics of English with Lena, who at first was uncomfortable, not with the stranger that was sitting across from her in the living room, but with the dynamics that were totally unfamiliar to her, since she never really had a teacher before. After a couple of lessons, she started to have fun with how surprised he looked after she answered his questions so easily, always lifting both eyebrows as he blinked repeatedly. She also started to actually enjoy their lessons more, since they evolved from repeating and identifying to actual conversations in English, where they learned about each other and chatted about the books Lena had been reading, Winn showed himself to be a fan of fantasy as well and told Lena that one of the books she read had a movie and they most definitely should watch together sometime. 

She smiled when she realized that she made a friend. 

On her fourteenth day there, Kara gave her a phone. Lena was starting to worry about the amount of money Kara was spending since she arrived, even though she didn't really know anything about how much money each thing cost and how much Kara made, she was still bothered by the fact she wasn't giving anything back nor helping, but Kara told her not to worry with that reassuring smile that made her blue eyes slightly glow on its corners and made Lena incapable off arguing against anything she had to say. She guided Lena through the basics, showing her how to turn it on, how to call someone, how to send a text message, how to take a picture, and, much to Lena's shook, how to register her fingerprint so she could unlock her phone with a single touch. Kara then started texting her while she was at work, usually at the beginning of the afternoon, when she had about an hour of free time. The first few texts always surprised Lena, making her bolt scared with the vibration that started out of nowhere, but, with the time, she began to expect it, holding her phone in hands so she wouldn't miss Kara's name appearing on her screen. They usually talked about their day or what they were doing at the moment, Kara sent her pictures of her lunch, Lena sent her pictures of the books she was reading or the drawings she was making. Kara taught her how to send small yellow faces that were impressively expressive for such small images, and also clarified that the random letters sometimes she sent were actually just a laugh, not a word in English that Lena didn't know. 

That phone allowed her to do many things, but being able to talk to Kara even while she wasn't around was by far Lena's favorite feature. 

On her sixteenth day there, she was asked to do something for the first time. Of course, she had offered her help before and they had accepted it plenty of times for simple tasks, such as doing the dishes, taking the clothes out of the drawer or other minor things involving house cleaning and, since Lena was a fast learner, she picked up pretty quickly the right way to mop the floor and clean out the dust. But, on the first time someone, more specifically Kelly, actually requested her help, was to watch Cassie. It had been about a week since Cassie had finally gotten used to Lena's presence there, of course, she wasn't as warm and confident around with Lena as she was with the rest of her family members, but she had grabbed Lena's leg once or twice while trying to walk, although Lena was pretty sure she had done that just so she wouldn't fall and didn't really care who she needed to hold onto to avoid that. 

Kelly apparently needed her full attention during a phone call and, since Lena was the only one home and also conveniently close by while sitting on the couch and almost reaching the end of the second book of the series she had started a couple of days before, she asked her if she could keep an eye on Cassie for a few minutes. Lena accepted, nodding and fixing her posture on her seat as if she had been given a very important mission. The Danvers asked one another for favors all the time, a glass of water, the salt during lunch, and now Lena was a part of that too. As silly as it could sound, she felt more like one of them afterward. 

On her twenty-third day there, she was home alone for the first time. Alex left to work early, followed by Eliza and Jeremiah, while Kelly and Cassie had slept over at Kelly's parent's house the night before and wouldn't be back until the next day. Before Kara left as well, she asked Lena if she would be okay at home by herself and Lena eagerly nodded. Not that she didn't appreciate having a big family for a change but she would be lying if she said she didn't miss the sweet sound of silence. It would be nice having it again for a while. At first, she remained in the kitchen for a while, enjoying her coffee, watching the streets through the window on her right. She didn't plan for her curiosity to grow stronger than her shyness, but before she could stop herself, she was already walking around, exploring her surroundings as if it was her first day there again. Of course, she had a tour when she first arrived, where Kara showed her around, explained briefly about each room, but Lena just stood by her side nodding as her stomach felt like it was frozen, so she didn't really get to see anything closely. One thing that she couldn't stop herself from thinking about, was the furniture itself. Each of those items was picked among many others, and Lena wondered who picked them, when did they do it. Things there didn't exactly match, but they fit together perfectly. 

She smiled when she noticed the hand-painted flower vase in front of a row of books on one of the living room shelves. It had the phrase 'I love you mom' written in glittery paint, and Lena wondered if that had been made by Alex or Kara, and when, but judging by all the butterflies and the hearts, she would guess it was Kara. There were many family pictures scattered around the room, each of them displaying a small piece of the family's story, one had Alex holding some sort of hat up, it was blue and it had a squared top, she looked extremely happy with the widest smile Lena had ever seen on her face. On another, a very younger version of Kara held the camera in front of her family as they all made funny faces while surrounded by an unfamiliar decoration that had a lot of green and red on its structures, with a pine tree covered in lights standing out behind them. It saddened her a little bit to think that she had no register of her as a child, apart from a single faded picture from newspapers telling her family's tragic story. 

Closer to the stairs, she noticed a ruler, made with crayons and that kept track of Alex's and Kara's height through their age. Lena laughed slightly when she noticed that Kara had surpassed Alex around her fourteens, knowing Alex a little bit, she knew that she must have been bitter about that, even if jokingly. One thing Lena had noticed before but was able to get a closer look now, was the diversity of books inside the office. There was a whole wall occupied by bookshelves and they were filled by different genres, some were fiction, some were about finances, there were bigger and thicker ones that appeared to be about medicine, but that was just a hard guess since the terms in the titles were just too specific for Lena to understand what they mean. It was like that space inside the house was the most explicit reflection of a family where every single member was different. It warmed her heart. 

Upstairs, she tried to hold back the urge to enter the bedrooms, she didn't want to invade their privacy in any way but... She was curious, and her curiosity had always been her greatest weakness ever since she was little, most of the times she got hurt or in trouble was due to her inquisitiveness, following animals to unknown parts of the forest, entering holes to see if she could fit through them, and a series of other innocent adventures that drove her father crazy. Suffice to say, she couldn't resist opening the door on her right, doing it slowly and carefully even though she knew there was no one home. Inside, it kind of looked like what she expected Eliza's and Jeremiah's bedroom to look, the walls had a very light shade of yellow, a well made double bed and a dresser that barely had space for anything over it other than family pictures. She didn't spend much time looking inside, already feeling like she was trespassing even though she barely crossed the door. Alex and Kelly's room was a little bit more chaotic, a series of stuffed animals on the bed that wasn't actually made, just covered by a blanked in an apparent rush. There were baby supplies, as well as a small pile of paperwork on what appeared to be Kelly's side of the bed, judging by the center's logo on top of them. Lena didn't expect to see that much of Cassie's things, considering that she had her own bedroom, but she spent more time with her mothers anyway.

Following that thought, she opened the door to the last room left, Cassie's bedroom, it looked as soft as she was, and was also apparently the smallest one in the house, to match her size. It also had her smell, that characteristic smell that only she seemed to have. Lena didn't know exactly from where that smell came from since her mothers were constantly covering her in multiple things that smelled all different. Maybe that one smell that stood out was just the combination of everything else. There was a wooden chest, almost as tall as the bed made for babies, _the crib_ , she mentally corrected herself, overflowing with toys. She tried not to remember her own chest back at the camp, but it was too late for that, so she just closed the door behind her, sighing heavily moments before her phone vibrated on the pocket of her jeans. Seeing Kara's name on the screen was enough to make Lena smile and be dragged away from whichever dark place her mind had been about to go into even before she saw what the text was all about. Perfect timing. 

And, on her thirty-first day there, she was awakened with a soft knock on her door. She opened her eyes with confusion, checking the window by her side to make sure she didn't oversleep and miss the sunrise, but it was still considerably dark outside. No one ever woke up earlier than her and, even if they did, why would they knock on her door? 

So, when she got up and walked towards it, she had a worried frown on her face, which was quickly replaced by a confused one when she opened the door and saw Kara standing on the other side, the lack of sleep evident below her eyes as she smiled slightly and held a plate with a pile of pancakes and a candle on top. 

"What is happening?" Lena asked, eyebrows together as she faced Kara, who had her cheeks red for some reason.

"Well... Today marks one month since you got here. So I kind of wanted to celebrate. With pancakes since it was what we made together on your first day." Kara explained, "The candle is for you to blow, by the way. Like a birthday."

Lena faced the candle and smiled slightly. She didn't really know what a birthday was supposed to be other than a literal birth-day, she didn't really celebrate those with her father, she wasn't even sure of when her birthday was for that matter. It wasn't really relevant back then. And to think that the simple fact that it had been a month since Lena started living with them was enough to make Kara want to celebrate in a way that was almost as important as someone's birthday made the well-known butterflies that used to wreak havoc only inside Lena's stomach fly around every single inch of her body. 

She didn't know what it was to be falling in love with someone but if that wasn't it, she didn't know what it could be. 

So, doing as she was told, she blew the candle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! I'm back, I'm sorry I took this long, college has been crazy lately as if the hours I'm saving by not having to actually go there are fully consumed by the extra work they're giving us.  
> I hope you liked this slightly different chapter, I wanted to write time going forward in a way a little more detailed than just saying "one month later", so I was inspired by those montages in movies while writing this one.  
> thank you for reading!


	13. Kara

"I think I only realized how scared I was when I felt the pain. Her pain." Kara sighed, fidgeting with her fingers while said the words calmly, her back stiff as she was seated on the leather armchair across from the sofa where her psychologist, Julia, was, staring at her with attentive dark eyes while she patiently let Kara tell her everything she had missed about the past month in her own pace. She had already told Julia about all that happened in general (in almost a single breath if Julia hadn't stopped her) and was just now going through specific parts of the craziest three days of her life, "It was so sudden and so intense that made me lose control of the car and crash on a tree. Conveniently, it brought me back one of the very few memories I still have of my mother. I really don't know how I was able to move on after that, to leave the car, to wander around the dark forest, and still look for her. Maybe it was out of fear after all. Fear of what could've happened to Lena if I didn't find her."

"Did it take you too long to find her?" Julia asked, her lips pressed as she probably tried to not let it show how incredibly shocked she was with everything she had heard so far. She had been Kara's psychologist since she lost her parents, so they knew each other for a long time. They started with weekly sessions, and Kara was pretty sure that therapy was what made her able to adapt so well to her new family and new life while also coping with her parent's death. Those sessions were gradually narrowed down to once every two months, like it was for everyone else Kara knew. 

"No, it was fast actually. I was able to somehow follow their footsteps and then I bumped into Lena while she was running from her father. She fell in my arms and I managed to hold her in a way that none of us fell on the ground. I... It's just..." Kara sighed again. She knew exactly what she wanted to say but, as much as Julia had successfully built an environment where Kara felt safe to express her feelings freely, she was still struggling, as if what she felt about it was wrong, selfish even, and if there was something Kara never allowed herself to be was selfish. But, after a long inhale she finally let it out, "I had pictured the first time seeing my soulmate for so long, and, even though that imaginary picture changed from year to year, they were romantic, sometimes silly, but always something that I would never want to forget. Something I would smile while telling my friends about years after it happened. It's ironic, because now all I wanted was to just forget what happened so I can sleep in peace. Which is an awful thing to say, because I should be grateful that Lena is okay, and I am, I really am-"

"Kara." Julia stopped her softly since she was losing her breath, and Kara exhaled gratefully, "It's more than okay to feel frustrated. Even though my advice about measuring expectations still stands, we all have, or had, our fantasies about how our first meeting with our soulmates would be. What exactly happened?"

"She was hurt when I found her. I don't think I ever saw someone nearly as wounded as she was that night. From what I recall, the worst I've seen was when Alex dropped a cup and tried to hold it before it fell but she ended up grabbing it as it broke. She had a pretty big cut across her palm and needed stitches. I remember that I freaked out and cried because I thought she could die from something like that." Kara giggled sadly, missing the innocence of childhood, "But Lena... She had an arrowhead coming out of her stomach."

"I'm sorry, an arrowhead?" Julia blinked a few times, just wanting to be sure of what she heard. 

"Yes. Her father shot her to stop her from running but she still managed to go on. She was bleeding, a lot, her clothes were soaked with blood and my hands were no different in a matter of seconds. I was terrified of losing her. Of losing her and having to watch it. You have no idea of what it was like to drive with her by my side like that, where one mistake could cost her. But she made it, thankfully. And to be honest she doesn't seem near as distraught by all of this as I am." Kara said as her eyes shifted towards the window, from where she could see a few of the buildings that surrounded the east of National City, "I mean, she found out she had been exiled from a perfectly functioning world her whole life and after a near-death experience she is thrown in said world, expected to just deal with it. And she just does it. She deals with it gracefully. I didn't go through half the things she did, so I just don't get why I'm so..."

"Traumatized?" As much as it sounded like a question, she wasn't really asking.

"Yeah. I can't be traumatized when Lena looks up to me for support. She trusts me. She counts on me."

"We all react differently to trauma. You had part of your world ripped from you since you never saw and used to believe you would never see a human purposely harming another, that level of shattering of one's reality can never be easy to endure. You also had your soulmate's life in your hands and had to carry her bleeding out to a hospital with the weight of the world in your shoulders. You have every right to be traumatized, Kara, and the start point of dealing with it is accepting it." Julia told her calmly, and Kara sighed as she digested those very needed words. She didn't go though as much as Lena did, but that didn't make her trauma any less valid, "You can support Lena, but you need to take care of yourself first. Also, as much as she seems fine, I would still advise her to see a therapist."

"Well... Lena has been open to pretty much everything we offer her, except talking about what happened. I've been waiting for her to open up, not wanting to cross any boundaries, but she just never does." Kara explained, "I'll try again."

"Alright. You did well in not pushing though. Now, back to something you said before, about being able to sleep in peace. You're having trouble sleeping?"

Kara nodded, explaining the nightmare situation, and Julia suggested a few tips to help her deal with them. She also reminded Kara that she could've called and scheduled an earlier session since she clearly needed one, and Kara gave her the guilty smile that always made Julia shake her head in disapproval. As their time together was coming to an end, she thought about the possibility of telling Julia about Lex. She mentioned him, telling her about his part in finding Lena, but she never mentioned the threat and the fact that he ended up never sending her any kind of document and neither explaining why he never did it. Maybe he had given up? If so, there must be an explanation.... To which Kara had no access to nor control of, so she was trying her best to just see that as a win. 

So, during the twenty minutes they had left, she told her therapist a little bit about how things were going with Lena at home, a smile growing bigger and bigger on her face as she went through a few of the stuff they did together and all of the things she learned about Lena (and Lena learned about herself) across the days. Julia smiled too, seeming genuinely happy for Kara despite everything else, since, just like everyone around her, she knew how badly Kara wanted to be mated. 

Kara knew that she had just met Lena and neither of them were in the right place to start working on their relationship, but it was impossible to remain impartial while looking at the person who you're supposed to spend your whole life with. Luckily, Kara was a lot of things, including patient, so she was happy to just have her as a good friend for now. 

She said goodbye to Julia with a tight hug and took the bus home. The one that made the quickest route there was, fortunately, the first one to appear at the bus stop, so she arrived before it got dark. The house was quiet for a Friday night, apart from the low sound of what was probably a cartoon on the living room's TV. She walked there, slowing her pace when she noticed Lena and Cassie sat down on the rug between the couch and the TV, a small wall of blocks between them. 

Kara always found it intriguing the relationship those two had, as if they were always constantly studying each other. For Cassie, Lena was someone new, a friendly stranger that was suddenly always around and with plenty of patience to play with her. For Lena, Cassie was also someone new, but even more than that, she was the first small human Lena had ever seen so she was probably curious and amazed by the way she behaved.

She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms with a small smirk as she watched them. Every time Cassie turned around to grab a new block to build her little wall, Lena took one of and hid behind her, probably waiting to see if Cassie would notice. That went on for a while, until Cassie stopped for a second, analyzing her wall that seemed to never get bigger. She then dragged the box to her front with almost no struggle so she wouldn't take her eyes off her block pile anymore, and Lena smiled with satisfaction.

"Very smart." She said, hesitantly caressing Cassie's hair, as if she wasn't really sure of how to do it, but she did it just right.

"Hey. Where is everyone?" Kara decided to show herself, walking towards them as she spoke. She remembered that Eliza and Jeremiah would be at one of Jeremiah's clients' house for dinner that night, but wondered about where Kelly and Alex were. Before Lena could answer her, Alex stepped into the living room, her fast pace made it clear she was up to something. 

"Kara! You're home. Good. Hear me out." Alex started as Kara lifted an eyebrow, "I'll drop Cassie off at her grandparents again, all that talk about how she gets to live here with my parents and barely spends time with them and blah blah." Alex rolled her eyes, not that she didn't have a good relationship with Kelly's parents, she did, but they were undoubtedly jealous of Eliza and Jeremiah ever since Alex and Kelly decided to live with them for a while so they could have some help taking care of Cassie. Valid to add, the two of them were about ten years older than Eliza and Jeremiah, so that meant they were inevitably... Grumpier, "They even kicked Kelly out of this one claiming she didn't trust them with her. Anyways, I was thinking, I really miss our friends, and I wanted to have a game night again. At my apartment."

Kara pressed her lips as she thought about it for a moment. Game night was one of Kara's favorite things, she got to have fun with her friends, put their friendship to proof with competitive games, get bubbly with alcohol and eat junk food for hours, there were literally no downsides. It used to happen on a weekly basis, sometimes less frequently when one or more of them was too busy to attend, but it had never been that long without one before. She was sure her friends understood why, she had talked to Nia at work and during lunches together about what happened and what was currently happening, the two of them were best friends so they both felt comfortable and trusted one another enough to talk to each other about pretty much everything. Nia probably had told Brainy, the same way Lucy probably filled James in, but maybe it was really time to gather everyone again, it could help Kara feel less tense, that of course unless Lena didn't want it. 

"Well, I'm fine with that. But only if Lena feels comfortable" She looked over at Lena, who seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. 

"I do." Lena nodded, not looking too worried about it. She appeared to be more comfortable lately, more independent and also way more communicative, and Kara was really happy, and relieved, to see that Lena was adapting so well. In the beginning, she relied on Kara for everything and used to just resume her day whenever Kara was back home from work, but then, after a while, she had a lot to tell Kara about the many things she did in her absence. 

"Are you sure? We'll be going to Alex's dusty apartment." Kara teased and Alex punched her arm with no strength, "And you'll be meeting new people. They're nice though, they're all my friends. Unless we're playing UNO, then I start doubting it."

"Sounds fun." Lena smiled, and Kara smiled back, helplessly. 

"Lena, you're the best and I love you." Alex said quickly and Lena blushed, looking down at Cassie's block pile to mask it. One of the things Kara was most grateful for was how immediately her whole family took Lena in as one of their own, "Okay, so I'll text the group chat and invite everyone, then let Kelly know she's on supermarket duty and you two are helping me clean my dusty apartment. Come on, let's move people."

Alex clapped to emphasize her hurry and Cassie clapped to imitate her, which made her mother almost burst in love and affection as she leaned down to take Cassie in her arms and get her ready to leave. They gathered a few cleaning supplies from the garage, Alex wasn't really sure if she had anything useful left forgotten at her apartment, she hadn't really been there in months and, since Kelly would only arrive there about an hour after they would, it was better if they just took what they needed to be sure. With everyone showered and dressed, they all entered the car and Alex drove them to their first stop: Kelly's parents' house. They lived in a residential neighborhood that was a little less than an hour away from the Danver's house, that being the reason why Alex and Kelly chose to move in with Eliza and Jeremiah instead of them, they lived too far from both their workplaces.

Kara was seated by Alex's side on the front, peaking at Lena through the wing mirror from time to time, even though she strongly tried not to, she always ended up watching Lena unaware while she did even the most ordinary things. Kara liked the way she was always looking out the window with green eyes full of wonder, even when they were passing through places she had seen before in other car trips, she was always interested, curious, concentrated, and when Kara tried to look out as well, to try and understand what was her interest all about, she found nothing much. It made her realize how much she took things for granted. 

When Alex parked her car in front of their house, Kelly's mother was on the front yard, watering the flowers that decorated her very colorful garden while wearing a straw hat even though it was nigh-time already. That small detail made Kara smile with herself as she helped Lena untie Cassie from her baby seat while Alex took her daughter's bag off the trunk, pulling her phone while she did it, probably to let Kelly know she was dropping their daughter off. 

"Hey, Kara! I haven't seen you in a while." Mrs. Olsen greeted her as she passed Cassie to her arms. She picked up her granddaughter and kissed her forehead with tenderness, seeming truly happy to see her there. Her eyes shifted from Cassie to the car, where they focused on Lena, who seemed unsure if she should get off the car or just wait there, "And you're not alone! Finally! I heard from Kelly you were mated but all she told me is that she's foreign. Come here, girl, let me see you."

It took Lena two seconds to respond to that, probably unsure if she was the one being called, getting off the car slowly and standing by Kara's side, their arms touching as Lena seemed to want to be as close to her as she possibly could. 

"Oh, look at you two, what wonderful couple." She smiled brightly and Kara could feel both her cheeks on fire. No one had referred to them as a couple before, but she should've known it would end up happening sooner or later.

"Thank you." Lena said with a matching smile, and Kara's heart skipped a beat. Did Lena say that out of politeness or did she really consider them a couple? Did she even know what the word couple meant in that context? 

"It's really nice to meet you. I'm Kelly's mother." She said slowly and loudly, probably thinking Lena wouldn't understand her. Kara could hear Alex holding back a laugh as she got closer to them, giving Mrs. Olsen Cassie's bag and greeting her with a wink, getting another in response. It truly warmed Kara's heart the way that she gave in to Alex's playful way of being, "I'm really happy for you, Kara. I know how hard it is to be a late-mate. Why don't you guys come in for some coffee? I would love to hear more about Lena and... Where are you from, dear?" She offered kindly as she looked at Lena, who pressed her lips, clearly tense. 

"Actually, our friends are waiting, so we are kind of in a hurry." Alex swooped in for the rescue. She knew very well that Lena wouldn't enjoy a conversation where the main subject was her past. Speaking of which, Kara wondered how open Lena would be (if she ever opened up at all) about what actually happened. Would she tell the truth or make up a different story? "You behave, okay? Mommy loves you.", She leaned towards Cassie, kissing her cheeks multiple times in multiple points until she started to laugh.

"Of course she will behave! Won't you, little angel?" Mrs. Olsen said as she snuggled her granddaughter, "No need to rush on picking her up, she's in good hands."

"Yes Ma'am." Alex nodded, leading their way back to the car. Kara and Lena waved goodbye simultaneously, both of them oblivious of their synchrony, but Mrs. Olsen smirked as they walked away from her. After the car was started and the house was left behind, Alex spoke again, "So, that very nice yet straightforward woman was my mother-in-law."

"Mother-in-law?" Lena's eyebrows furrowed. That wasn't really a term she had heard before. 

"Yep. That means she's my wife's mother."

"So that makes her father your... father-in-law and vice-versa?"

"Exactly. She's also the mother of one of our friends, James. He's actually Lucy's husband. You'll meet him today. As well as Nia, Kara's friend from work, and her soulmate, who all of us call Brainy, and I'm pretty sure everyone else that knows him calls him that."

"Brainy? As in... Brain?" Lena laughed slightly at such a strange nickname, "You guys have many friends."

"You too. They all come with the Kara Danvers package." Alex winked and Kara looked at her with a glimpse of panic in her blue eyes. Lena, on the other hand, seemed pretty happy with that sentence judging by the smile that was brightening up her face. 

When they got to Alex and Kelly's apartment, they started by taking off all of the white sheets that were covering the furniture, so whatever dust was in them would fall on the floor before they cleaned it up. The cleaning itself didn't take too long, The place wasn't big at all, the living room and the kitchen shared their space in a single open environment and the two bedrooms faced each other in a hallway that had about five steps in length. Still, as much as they were all used to the Danvers home and its 3000 square feet, the apartment didn't feel tight, it was just the right amount of cozy and perfect for a small family like theirs. 

By the time Kelly arrived, the house was clean. Alex and Kara were in the kitchen washing a few cups and some bowls as well to put the snacks inside while Lena was star cross-legged on the living room's floor, surrounded by game boxes with a manual on her hand, which she was reading with utmost interest and concentration, looking at the back of the boxes from time to time, probably searching for visual references. 

"Lucy told me she'll be here in ten, and she's bringing Nia and Brainy with her so they'll all arrive together." Kelly told them before she kissed her wife softly. Kara nodded as she helped Kelly with her bags, and not much time after that the coffee table had every inch of it occupied by a bowl or a box with something edible inside, about three among those things Kara was pretty sure Lena hadn't tried before, so she was excited to find out whether she would like them or not. The only thing missing was the drinks, but their guests would be the ones in charge of that. When the doorbell rang, they were not surprised to see that it had been exactly ten minutes since Kelly arrived. Lucy was one of those admirably punctual people.

When Alex walked to the door, Lena lifted her green eyes on that direction, and Kara could see the apprehension in them, as much as Lena was doing an amazing job at pretending she was not nervous at all about all of that, Kara saw through her in an instant. She touched her arm in a reassuring way, smiling when Lena's eyes shifted towards her.

"It will be fine." She whispered as low as she could so only Lena could hear her. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded, letting Kara help her stand up so they could all receive their guests together. 

"The party is here!" Lucy greeted them with a smile as she lifted what at first appeared to be two bottles of wine. Alex was the one who opened the door, so she was the first one to be hugged by an apparently very excited Lucy, "I didn't miss you at all."

"Hello to you too." Alex rolled her eyes while hugging her friend. James entered the room right behind her, followed by Nia and Brainy, who held hands as they stepped inside. 

"Hey guys." Kara waved kind of awkwardly when the four of them were inside. She didn't realize until that moment she was nervous too. It was like in those movies where people didn't have soulmates and the main character was nervous about their family meeting their significant other. With all the eyes on her and Lena who was standing by her side, she gulped before continuing, "So... In case you haven't heard... ", That small joke was about enough to ease the tension as everyone started laughing, "This is Lena. And Lena, you already know Lucy, these are James, Nia, and Brainy."

"Lena, you have no idea how long we all waited for you. I'm talking about years alright." James said casually, as if he already knew her, and Lena laughed, "It's really good to meet you.

"It's good to meet you too. All of you." She said nicely, and they all reacted to her voice and accent with a slight increase of their eyebrows, except for Nia, who crushed her own cheeks in between her hands, obviously finding Lena adorable.

"Guys, can we go sit down so I can drown on a non-alcoholic beverage please?" Lucy asked after a sigh, and Kara blinked at the 'non-alcoholic' part, until she remembered that Lucy and James had announced they were trying. It had been just a month, but it looked like it was forever ago. By asking that, Lucy did them a favor and broke the five seconds long awkward silence that stood there, but Kara knew all of them were curious yet unsure of what they could ask or not, so things would be slightly tense for a while, "I had a long day of bad news delivery."

"Sure. Hand these over, you guys go sit." Kelly nodded taking some of the drinks to the kitchen with her to put on the fridge while everyone else walked to the living room. The couch was big for a room that size, not enough to fit all of them, but there were cushions on the floor so some of them could sit around the coffee table. Lena chose the floor since she was there before, and Kara decided to sit by her side, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible. 

"So, Lena, question, what are you into?" Lucy asked her after she opened a coke. When Lena just looked at her with confusion clear on her face, Lucy decided to rephrase, "I mean, what do you like to do?"

"Oh. I like to draw-" 

"Ha!" Nia clapped, slightly startling Lena, and then pointed at Lucy, "I told you Kara you get an artsy girl."

"Well, your guess was more like, to the musical side of art." James crossed his arms in front of his chest, and Kara covered her eyes with her hand for a moment, only then realizing they were referring to the bet they made a month before. 

"But I was still the one who bet the closest." 

"Dammit." Lucy rolled her eyes, pulling a ten-dollar bill out of her pocket. James did the same shortly after.

"Wait, you guys bet on this? Why wasn't I invited?", Alex pouted, and Lucy shrugged. 

"Can you show us something you made?" Nia asked Lena with a warm smile, "Only if you want, of course."

"Okay." Lena nodded, taking her phone off her pocked, scrolling through her messages with Kara until she found the last drawing she sent her. Kara lifted her eyes a little peek at the screen and, when Lena finally found what she was looking for, she remembered what it was: A drawing of a pair of rusty bikes on the floor in front of a coffee shop, that was almost fully covered by overgrown nature. It was one of the first colored drawings that Lena had sent her, and even though it had been followed by "I'm starting to get used to colors" it was so beautifully painted that it looked if she had invented the whole concept of colors herself. 

Nia's eyes widened when Lena turned the screen towards her, and she mindlessly grabbed the phone from her hand to look at it better, but Lena didn't seem to mind, her eyes showed only curiosity.

"Oh my god. This is amazing. Guys, look." Nia turned the phone towards the rest of the group, whose reactions were between surprised and shocked with the image. While they all showered her with compliments, Kara glanced at Lena, whose face was already pink, and she smiled, happy that Lena was having her talent appreciated by other people, 

"It's truly impressive." Brainy said as he nodded, "You could make a career out of this."

"Really?" Lena seemed truly interested. Kara never really sat down with her to talk about what she wanted for her future. She was taken by her father before she even had the chance to attend school, and Kara had no idea how much he taught her. She wanted Lena to feel free to do whatever she wanted, even if she had to start from scratch. 

"Totally." Nia agreed as she gave Lena her phone back, "I really wish I had this talent for art. I'm studying fashion design on the side and I have so many ideas that I simply cannot put into paper."

"It's just practice, really. I had plenty of time." Lena said with a smile, it took them a moment to realize she was joking, but they still laughed. James asked Alex and Kelly if they had plans to move back into their apartment any time soon, so the conversation drifted away from Lena a little bit, and Kara realized she was the only one who didn't have a drink on her hands. When Lena arrived, it took her some time to drink something other than water, she said she found it weird to drink things with a taste, since that used to mean something bad, but she slowly gave in to juice, soda not so much, and alcohol would be something new if she decided to try. 

"Hey." Kara whispered so she wouldn't interrupt Alex as she answered James, "Don't you want to drink anything?"

"What are you drinking?", Lena whispered back as she leaned towards Kara's glass with curiosity. 

"It's wine. It's made of grapes, but it has alcohol. Want a sip?"

Lena thought about it for a second (maybe wondering why would people drink "alcohol" in the first place), but nodded, taking Kara's glass on her hand and taking a small sip. 

"It's sweet. But my head feels... Warmer." Lena laughed nervously, "Is this normal?"

"Yeah." Kara laughed too, "It is. Do you want me to pour some for you?"

Lena nodded again, and Kara gave her half a glass, careful to not overdo it since it was her first time drinking wine, none of them really knew how much Lena could take. 

"So, what are we playing tonight?" Nia was the first one to ask the awaited question that always took about ten minutes to be answered, since they always believed they would have time to play multiple games but always ended up too involved in the first game they chose to switch to a different one. They usually played board games, Clue was their favorite, followed by monopoly and ticket to ride, but they started to embrace party games as well recently, like Pictionary, heads up, and charades. 

"I believe that as a part of Lena's initiation into the group, we should play War.", Lucy suggested, "It's the perfect game to see if she can stand us arguing non-stop for four hours."

"War is a complex game." Kelly reminded her.

"I believe I read the rules for this one. The objective, the countries, the troops, the dice. I think I'll know what to do.", Lena reassured her.

"Alright then. Let me open some space on the table."

The game went as it usually did, with lies, bad luck, good luck, plot twists, and betrayal. Since they were eight and war was a six-player game, James and Kara took control together over the yellow army (the fairest choice since they were both the worst at War and maybe together they could equal the skill of the rest of them) and the others went solo. Brainy ended up being the first one to complete his objective after spending the whole game offering an alliance to Alex only to clear her troops from the war table by the end. However, they didn't really argue as much Lucy had predicted, spending most of the time just chatting about what they had lost in each others' lives during the past month and telling Lena about random situations they lived together. She was even quieter than Brainy in the beginning, but, as soon as she was done with her glass of wine, she became more talkative, engaging in the conversation, asking questions, wanting to know more. Something that really impressed Kara though, was that Lena had truly learned how to play the game only by reading the rules since when they first played it, took them three games to actually figure out the right way to play it. And when the game was over and Lena showed Kara her objective card, she saw that Lena had been really close to winning, if only Nia and Kelly hadn't fought so much for the control of south America Lena could have outsmarted them all. 

With the game done, came the realization that was way too late for people who woke up early that same morning to be awake, so they all got up from their seats and started helping pick up the empty bowls and the leftovers snacks, taking it all to the kitchen where Kelly and Alex teamed up to do the dishes. They both preferred tidying things up before they slept instead of having a huge mess to deal with in the morning, also, with everyone helping, it took them no time. 

"Lena, you survived a game night so I hereby declare you part of the family." They were all by the door when Lucy announced it as she motioned with her right hand towards Lena as if it was a sword. Lena furrowed her eyebrows (clearly not getting the reference), but smiled, "Welcome. And thank you guys for hosting this, I really needed to get my mind off things."

"My place next time." Nia told them, "I can promise homemade pizza. This time I will not let Brainy help."

"I have improved my cooking skills considerably." Brainy defended himself, receiving suspicious looks from his friends. Last time he helped Nia cook for them, they all started drinking water uncontrollably, but Kara didn't remember anymore if it was because of the salt, the pepper, or both. Luckily they realize it early enough to order something else, "I mean it."

"Okay, we trust you." Kelly said as she squeezed his shoulder. 

"Now please out of my house because I need to work early tomorrow." Alex playfully pushed James towards the door, who let her do it while laughing, and they all said their goodbyes, sharing hugs between them, including Lena, who didn't have much of a choice regarding Lucy and Nia who just wrapped her in a tight squeeze before she could even react, but she seemed happy about it. 

"Right, so...", Alex sighed as she closed the door behind her, turning towards Kara, "Do you mind staying here tonight? I'm too tired to drive back home and also I just remembered we would have to take everything out of the fridge so we don't leave any food behind... I'm almost falling asleep only by considering it."

"I could drive us." Kara offered, but a long yawn gave away she was as tired as Alex, and, judging by the way she was heavily blinking, Kelly didn't look so different, "Okay, I can't drive us."

"You guys can share the sofa-bed, if that's okay with you." Alex's eyes shifted to Lena. As much as that seemed like a genuine offer, Kara couldn't help but thinking that her sister was trying to set her up somehow, "We don't really have another bed that isn't ours and neither of you will fit inside Cassie's crib.

Kelly pressed her eyes shut at Alex's joke, but she had a small smirk on her lips. 

"I don't mind." Lena shook her head. Kara also didn't mind... But she didn't know why her heartbeat rate spiked out of a sudden. 

Alex nodded, walking to the sofa to pull it open as Kelly went to their bedroom, probably to get some sheets and pillows. The space available was reasonably big for a sofa-bed even though they would still have to squeeze a little to fit. Each of them had their turn into the bathroom to get ready to sleep, there were still a few of Kelly and Alex's clothes that had been left behind in their wardrobe when they moved out, and luckily a few of them would serve as good pajamas for the four of them. 

When Alex and Kelly closed their bedroom door, Kara and Lena both took a step closer towards their bed, awkwardly bumping into each other. 

"You can go first." They offered simultaneously, which made the two of them laugh slightly, but Kara was the first to continue, "No, seriously, you can go first. I kind of move too much when I sleep."

"But then you could fall off.", Lena had a solid point. Kara wasn't really sure about the way Lena slept, when at the hospital she never moved a muscle but that could've been the painkillers' fault. Either way, she truly risked falling off the sofa if she slept on the border's side of it, so she was the first one to lay down, making sure Lena would have plenty of space for herself. They were both laying on their backs, staring at the white ceiling that was illuminated by streetlights outside. 

"I really enjoyed today.", Lena told her in a low tone, "It's... Good. To have so many people in our life."

Kara smiled, but it hurt. It hurt to know that things that for Kara were so simple like having fun with her friends were completely new to Lena. 

"I'm glad you did. What did you think of them?"

"Um... I really liked Nia. She's very nice, warm, easy to talk to, and terrible at that game but that didn't make her try any less.", Kara's small smile grew wider at Lena's sentence. That sounded like Nia, "I liked James too. He has a contagious smile and, even though he's a little bit more serious than the rest, like Kelly, he's good at telling stories, like you. Brainy is... Quiet, but whenever he speaks it's always something that has some sort of impact. I found it really interesting that Nia and him are so different, but they look like they love each other very much. He always laughed at her jokes and she always congratulated him for his smart moves on the board. I already liked Lucy, but it was good to meet this side of her so... Energetic. It's like she is... What was the word? No, not a word, an expression, about parties?"

"The life of the party?", Kara tried. If that was what Lena was trying to say, she truly agreed. It was amazing how Lucy had the power to uplift the mood of wherever place she entered, even after a whole day of dealing with death and grief, she managed not only to smile but also to make people smile. 

"Yes. That, she is." Lena agreed and, after a long pause, she spoke again, "Do you think... They liked me?"

"I'm sure they did. You're amazing.", It came out so naturally she only realized she said that when it had already been said. She meant it though. But that didn't stop her from blushing at her own straightforward compliment. 

"You're amazing too. I... I wanted to thank you. For all you've done for me. Without ever asking for anything in return even though I intend on giving someday."

"You don't have to thank me-"

"Yes, I do. Please accept."

"Okay." She snorted at Lena's dominant tone, one which she never heard before but it was pleasing to listen to, "You're welcome. But you also don't have to worry about it, okay?"

"I can't not worry. I've had my time, now I need to start... I don't know, something."

"I know, but you don't need to rush things. If you want to study something, we can figure that out and look at all of your options together. If you want a job we can see about that too. Just know that there's no pressure. However, there's something I would like you to reconsider."

"And what is that?"

"Therapy. I'm sure it will be helpful. I can't even begin to imagine what's going on inside your head and, as much as I'm here for you, I can't help you as much as a professional could."

A sigh.

A few seconds of silence, that made Kara curse at herself for having potentially ruined the moment. But then Lena spoke again. 

"Okay." She didn't sound irritated or resentful, just compliant, giving Kara the impression that she actually agreed with what she was told, "For now... I know you're tired, so I'll let you sleep. Goodnight, Kara."

She was tired, yes, but she felt like she could listen to Lena speak for hours. Still, it was probably best to get some sleep. 

"Goodnight, Lena."

And, this time, no nightmares came to haunt her sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I believe that in a utopia everyone would go to therapy because they want to and they know it's healthy)
> 
> hey guys, I'm back, a long time in between chapters again, I know, but to redeem myself this 1. was the longest chapter in this fic and 2. has there's-only-one-bed-trope because I love it.  
> hope you liked it, thanks for reading.


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